Level of physical activity and sedentary behavior of health care professionals in De La Salle University Medical Center based on global physical activity questionnaire

This is a descriptive type of research using purposive sampling. It focused on describing the level of physical activity in three (3) domains: at work, travel to and from places and leisure. The study also described the factors influencing physical activity and sedentary behavior classified as personal, physical, occupational and psychosocial. A GPAQ version 2 self-report survey questionnaire was adapted by the WHO and primarily designed for developing countries to assess the level of physical activity of individual. Data was analyzed through frequency distribution, mean and percentage. The results showed that among the three (3) domains based on GPAQ, healthcare professionals are most physically active at work both according to the average days in a week and hours in a day. The results showed that healthcare professionals in DLS-UMC fall under high level of physical activity (61.84%), based on the GPAQ guidelines. Meanwhile, respondents are generally sedentary considering that they spend more time sedentarily (mean=310.38 minutes per day) than being physically active (mean=289.31 minutes per day). Results regarding physical activity and sedentary behavior vary across personal, physical, occupational and psychosocial factors. However, data showed consistent findings that majority of the healthcare professionals have high level of physical activity and that most of them are considered sedentary. After a careful study of the results gathered using the GPAQ, researchers concluded that the majority of the healthcare professionals in De La Salle University Medical Center have high level of physical activity. However, they are also considered as sedentary since the results showed that they spend more time being sedentary than being physically active