Healthy lifestyle behaviours of foreign male students residing in government hostels in Izmir and their comparison with Turkish students

Aim: The aim of this study is to assess the healthy lifestyle behaviours of foreign male students residing in government hostels in Izmir and to compare them with Turkish students. Materials and method: The target group of this cross-sectional study consisted of 5.258 Turkish and foreign students residing in government hostels in Izmir during the 2015-2016 academicyear. The total number of Turkish students was 4.633 and there were a total of 625 foreign students.Erasmus students were excluded from the study and are not included in these total numbers. There are eight male government hostels in Izmir and seven hostels whereforeign students reside were included in the study: Hacı Ahmet Tatari Hostel, Bornova Male Hostel, Atatürk Hostel, Barbaros Hostel, Çiğli Male Hostel, Urla Hostel and Çakabey Hostel. Two samples representative of both foreign and Turkish students were selected proportionally to the number of students residing in each hostel. The sample size of the study was 252 students. The students were selected stratifying according to hostel and nationality. The two groups were selected equally, with 126 foreign students selected out of 625 and 126 Turkish students selected out of 4.633in a systematic random manner. The data were collected using the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP-II) scale and a socio-demographic questionnaire prepared by the researcher. The independent variables of the study were age, marital status, mother's and father's education, properties of the educational program enrolled and residence, economic status, perceived health, presence of chronic disease, body mass index, tobacco use, alcohol use, perceived difficulties of living in Izmir. The dependent variables were total and dimensional HPLP scores. The scale has six dimensions. Higher total and dimension scores mean a more positive healthy lifestyle.The assessments of the data included means and standard deviations, percentage distributions and t test, one-way ANOVA, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests. The level of significance was set at p<0.05. Results:From both groups, 124 students participated in the study (98.4% coverage). The mean HPLP-IIscore of foreign male students was 129.29±17.60 while the Turkish students obtained a mean score of130.73±20.56 and there was no significant difference between them(p=0.555). The highest mean subscale score of the students in both groups was in the spiritual dimension (26.31±4.22 for foreigners and 26.20±4.19 for Turkish students), while the lowest mean subscale score of both groups was in the exercise dimension (17.99±4.29 for foreigners and 19.02±5.39 for Turkish students).Among the subscales, only interpersonal relations scores were significantly different among both groups. The mean score of Turkish students was25.04±5.04 and it was higher than the mean score of foreign students which was 23.73±3.10 (p=0.016). Among foreign male students, significant differences in mean scores were observed according totheir education levels, hostels, economic status, health status,alcohol use, satisfaction with their education program, and whether they had difficulty in relations with other friends in Turkey and in cultural difference (p<0.05) while significant differences according to universities, hostels, economic status, scholarship, and difficulties in relations with their friends were found amongTurkish students (p<0.05). Conclusion:The HPLP-II scores of foreign male students were similar to Turkish students. The mean scores of both groups were moderate. The highest scores were obtained in the spiritual growth subscale while the lowest mean scores were in the physical activity dimensionfor both groups. The students' level of physical activity and exercise can be considered as inadequate and the establishment of sports facilities to the hostels can be suggested. According to these results the administration of the hostels could organize health promotion programs and health seminars and they could create environments for students conductive to a healthy lifestyle. To improve foreign students' interpersonal relationships, the organization of social activities with Turkish students could be beneficial both for their Turkish language development and the establishment of new friendships.