The investigation of the relationship between physical activity and depressive symptoms in medical faculty students

Abstract

Objective: As doctors and other health professionals play an important role in preventive and curative health services, their knowledge, attitudes and behaviors related to physical activity are important. In this study, we aimed to determine the relationship between depressive symptoms and hopelessness levels and physical activity status and attitudes among students in grade IV-V and VI of medical school.

Method: A short socio-demographic information questionnaire, Turkish version of “International Physical Activity Questionnaire” (UFAA), Beck Depression Scale (BDI) and Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) were administered by face-to-face interview method to 222 students from IV, V and VIth grades, who agreed to take part in the study, from Düzce University Medical School between April 2017- June 2017.

Results: A total of 222 students participated in the study (78 IVth graders, 65 Vth graders and 75 VIth graders). As the activity levels approached, “adequate physical activity level” a drop in the BDI values was seen although not statistically significant (p: 0,388). There was a statistically significant difference in the changes of the BHS values between the groups (p: 0,005). A statistically significant difference was found between the change in the level of physical activity level and the increase in BMI (p: 0,026).

Conclusion: Physicians should pay more attention to their lifestyles than other occupational groups because they are taken as a role model in the society, especially about the health issues. Our hypothesis in this study was that physically active people should have lower BMI values and less susceptibility to depression; some of our results support this, but there is a need for further studies covering a longer period in this regard in the future.