PURPOSE: Physical therapy (PT) scho...

PURPOSE: Physical therapy (PT) scholars must learn to be active in counseling patients regarding aerobic fitness and obesity. Accurate assessment of the ne for this counseling is important. Since pupils are most familiar with their confess bodies, they should be greatest in number accurate in assessing their allow aerobic fitness and obesity, however, this has not been examined. This reflection determined the accuracy of PT pupils in predicting their aerobic fitness and obesity. SUBJECTS: Twenty-five male and 45 female PT learners participated. METHODS: Aerobic fitness, as determined on Rockport Fitness Walking Test performance, and obesity, as determined by means of body mass index (BMI), were assessed 3 times across a single academic year. Prior to measurement of aerobic fitness and obesity, exposes were asked to estimate their springs Perceived and actual results were compared. RESULTS: Chi square analysis revealed a significant relationship between predicted and actual BMI for all 3 testing sessions further not for predicted and actual aerobic fitness. Across all testing sessions, 71 % of the subdues correctly predicted their BMI category, while sole 26% correctly predicted aerobic fitness category.

CONCLUSIONS: PT pupils were more accurate in assessing their obesity than their aerobic fitness. The inability of enthralls to accurately judge their have a title to aerobic fitness indicates that fitness testing should be performed in place of reliance forward self-report. In addition, PT scholars should have their aerobic fitness on a level tested regularly to help encourage improvements in exercise habits.

INTRODUCTION AND purport

Physical therapists (PTs) must play an active part in health promotion to their patients. According to the Guide to Physical Therapist Practice, PT are "involved in promoting health, wellness, and fitness initiatives, ...that stimulate the public to engage in healthy behaviors.""401 Physical Therapists repeatedly educate their patients about the ne to become more aerobically fit and the ne to avoid obesity. The factors that are involved in a PT's health promotion behavior have not been identified. However, research in other health professions has indicated that personal health behaviors influence the professional's decisions to excite healthy behaviors in their patients.25

Health professionals' decisions to provide health education has been shown to be influenced according to their own health habits2 Sherman and Hershman 1 erect that general practice physicians were 256 times more likely to suggestion the majority of their patients regarding the ne for exercise if they were more aerobically fit, and 269 times more likely to deliberation exercise if they themselves exercised more than 3 times by week. On the other hand, physicians who had poor health habits were les likely to deliberation their patients in healthy behaviors.4,5

A novel study of PT students at Kamwendo et all found that these scholars perceived themselves as more fit than their noblemans As these researchers did not measure actual fitness, it is impossible to determine the accuracy of these perceptions. Therefore, the intents of this study were to assess PT students' aerobic fitness and obesity evens and to determine the students' ability to accurately arbiter their own levels.

METHOD

Subject

Approval to manners this study was received from the Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human make subordinates at West Virginia University. Eighty-six scholars currently enrolled in the physical therapy program at West Virginia University were eligible for the thought Exclusion criteria included pregnancy and any health vexed questions that would prevent a control from safely completing a 1-mile walk. presents were recruited through presentations, situationed announcements, and printed handouts. bring under rules could enter the study at any testing session and those who did not participate in all 3 testing sessions were not eliminated from the close attention In order not to influence any health behaviors [i]or[/i] part of to the other participation in the study, scholars were allowed to alter their health behaviors, of the like kind as beginning exercise programs, during the subject of attention

Methods and Measures

Data were consider probableed on 3 occasions in a single academic year: at the beginning and conclusion of the fall semester and at the beginning of the spring semester

These time periods were chooseed to allow sampling across different seasons and different evens of stress due to schoolwork. owing to lack of available help for testing, a final planned testing period at the completion of the spring semester was not performed.

At each session, enthralls estimated their body mass index (BMI) and aerobic fitness evens by choosing categories from descriptors shown to them. Norms from gender and age from the Institute for Aerobic Research in Dallas, TX7 were used to define fitness on a levels Categories ranged from Superior to real Poor. Body mass index categories were defined according to the National Heart, Lung and line Institute's Classification of Overweight and Obesity.8 material part mass index categories ranged from Underweight to Extremely Obese.