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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2024.1205914

Perceived benefits and barriers to exercise and associated factors among Zimbabwean undergraduate students: a cross-sectional study

Provisionally accepted
Beatrice Kudzaishe Shava Beatrice Kudzaishe Shava *Blessed Vhudzijena Blessed Vhudzijena Tariro Kupenga-Maposa Tariro Kupenga-Maposa Thelma Musingwini Thelma Musingwini Tanaka Samudzi Tanaka Samudzi Sidney Muchemwa Sidney Muchemwa Dixon Chibanda Dixon Chibanda Jermaine Dambi Jermaine Dambi
  • University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Despite the well-documented benefits of regular physical activity (PA), many university students are physically inactive. Personal, socio-economic, and environmental factors predict PA engagement behaviours in university students. There is a need to understand context-specific perceived barriers and benefits to exercise engagement and physical activity levels amongst university students from low-income settings. This study primarily evaluated the barriers and facilitators to PA engagement in Zimbabwean undergraduate students. We also assessed the correlates of perceived barriers and benefits to PA engagement, risk of common mental disorders (CMDs) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL).We used a cross-sectional study to recruit 465 university undergraduate students. The Exercise Benefits and Barriers Scale, International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), Shona Symptoms Questionnaire (SSQ-8) and EuroQol 5 Dimension (EQ5D-5L) were used to measure barriers and facilitators, physical activity level, risk of depression and anxiety and HRQoL, respectively. Data were analysed through descriptive statistics and logistic regression.Most participants were male (58.5%) with a mean age of 21.7 (SD 1.6) years. Majority of the participants were first year students (37.2%), consumed alcohol (66.5%), did not smoke (88.2%) and had a normal BMI (64.7%). The prevalence of low PA levels was 17.4%, with 33.5% of students at risk of CMDs. The most perceived benefits were in the physical performance (e.g. exercise improves my level of physical fitness) and life enhancement (e.g. exercise improves my self-concept) domains, while the most perceived barriers were lack of exercise infrastructure (e.g. exercise facilities do not have convenient schedules) and physical exertion (e.g. exercise tires me). Food insecurity (AOR 2.51: 95% CI 1.62 -3.88) and the risk of CMDs (AOR 0.49: 95% CI 0.32 -0.76) were associated with increased odds of experiencing barriers to exercise. Not using substances (AOR = 2.14: 95% CI 1.11 -4.14) and a higher self-rated HRQoL (AOR 24.34: 95% CI 1.77 -335.13) were associated with increased odds of a high perception of exercise benefits. Improving access to community and on-campus exercise facilities and campus-wide health promotional interventions is necessary to enhance PA amongst university students.

    Keywords: Common mental disorders, health-related quality of life, undergraduate students, non-communicable diseases English (Zimbabwe), Barriers and benefits to exercise

    Received: 14 Apr 2023; Accepted: 14 May 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Shava, Vhudzijena, Kupenga-Maposa, Musingwini, Samudzi, Muchemwa, Chibanda and Dambi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Beatrice Kudzaishe Shava, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.