Health Promoting Status and Exercise Behaviors of People with Physical Disabilities in Thailand

INTRODUCTION: People with physical disabilities (PPD) inevitably face not only limitations for doing daily life activities, but also participating social behavior and exercising deficiency. Data from this research will be used to plan, develop, and promote quality of life for persons with physical disabilities. PURPOSE: This survey study focus on health promoting and exercise behaviors of PPD in Thailand. METHODS: The participants were 421 PPD in Thailand (male 291, female 130). The multistage random sampling method was implemented. The 2 questionnaires were used for the study; 1) Health promoting behaviors questionnaire (HPBQ), consisted of 28 items, and 6 components; health responsibility (HR) nutrition behavior (NB) physical activity and exercise (PA) interpersonal relationships (IR) and spiritual growth (SG) and stress management (SM). 2) Exercise behaviors questionnaire (EBQ). These 2 questionnaires were developed and monitored the content validity by 5 experts in related disciplines. RESULTS: The results on HPBQ showed that, the PPD practiced on NB a regular basis (3.46±.50). Five components of HPBQ were performed at often rates; SG, SM, HR, PA and IR (3.21±.55, 3.13±.62, 3.10±.55, 3.00±.60 and 2.93±.58) consecutively. EBQ showed that, 279 participants did exercise (66.3%). Walking and wheelchair spinning were the popular activities. The main reason for exercise was for good health (42.1%), followed by physical rehabilitation needs (19.6%). The choices for choosing an exercise place were convenient and safety. The participants perceived that exercise increase muscle strength (31.5%) and help them get better sleep (12.9%). The PPD aware of warm up before exercise (42.9%), then cool down after exercise (27%). On the other hand, 142 people had no exercise (33.7%), due to, a perception of physical limitations (34.6%) and lack of time (22.5%), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Whether, the disabled population perceived the benefits of exercise but not exercise, due to physical limitation and has no times. Therefore, physical activities and exercise program should be studied and developed for implementing health and exercise behavior and by far to increase exercise rehabilitation and improve their quality of life. The research on exercise program for the disables should be developed to enhance choices and chances for the disabled in Thailand to exercise. Supported by: Thai Health Promotion Foundation