Perceived Health Benefits of Exercise Among Civil Servants in Ikwerre Local Government Area, Rivers State

Abstract

Civil servants often face high-pressure environments and demanding workloads. The demanding nature of their work often exposes them to high levels of stress, long tedious hours of work and sedentary office environments which increase chronic medical conditions such as obesity and cardiovascular diseases. This study investigated the perceived health benefits of exercise among civil servants in Ikwerre Local Government Area, Rivers State. The study was designed using a descriptive survey design. The study population comprised all Civil Servants in the Local Government Area. A sample of 384 respondents was used for the study gotten using the Cochrane formula. Using the convenience approach, respondents were recruited to participate in the study from the various departments and parastatals in the Local Government Area. A self-developed and validated questionnaire with a reliability index of 0.71 was used to elicit information from the respondents. A retrieval rate of 98.2% was achieved. Frequencies and mean were used to answer the research questions while ANOVA was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Observations of the results showed that exercise participation was high among civil servants in the study area as 69.0% regularly participated in exercise. Out of those that participated in exercise, 14.3% reported participating in exercise daily, while only 4.5% of the respondents exercised five or more times a week. Furthermore, the results showed that 33.4% of the respondents exercised for 30 minutes or less per session while 30.0% spent between 31-60minutes per session. It was also observed that 59.2% of the respondents engaged in light-intensity exercise while only 11.2% engaged in vigorous-intensity exercise. It was revealed that exercise participation had significant benefits on physical (F= 20.569; p= 0.000), emotional (F= 45.928; p= 0.000) and psychological health (F= 45.091; p= 0.000) as well as the stress level (F= 57.101; p= 0.000) among civil servants in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State. It was recommended that Employers of labour especially Government Agencies should provide support for their staff by offering workplace wellness programmes that promote exercise, this can include designated exercise breaks and on-site fitness facilities.