Level of Physical Activity and Perceived Barriers among Nurses in COVID-19 Wards, National Hospital Sri Lanka: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Physical activity is a known positive reinforcement for health and an effective coping behaviour against pandemic-related stressors. Physical activity and self-care routines of the nurses were disturbed due to the heavy workload and intense responsibilities of the COVID 19 pandemic. Thus, it is instrumental to assess the level of physical activity of Sri Lankan nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic since the data are sparse. Objectives: To evaluate the level of physical activity and perceived barriers to engage in physical activity among nurses who work in COVID-19 wards, at National Hospital Sri Lanka (NHSL). Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among conveniently selected 123 nurses who work in COVID-19 wards (12 wards) at NHSL. The nursing officers were invited via a Google form using social media platforms. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire which consisted of International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and questions to assess the perceived barriers. Levels of physical activity were categorized as inactive (<600 MET-minutes per week), minimally active (600-2999 MET-minutes per week), and Health Enhancing Physical Activity (HEPA) (>3000 MET- minutes per week). Data were analysed with descriptive statistics using IBM SPSS version 25.0. Results: Of the participants, 86.1% (n=106) were female, Grade Ⅲ nursing officers (59.3%, n=73) with the mean (SD) age of 33 (±7) years. Only 12.1% (n=15) nurses engaged in regular exercises. Of the nurses, 34.1% (n=42) were inactive, 54.5% (n=67) were minimally active and only 11.4% (n=14) engaged in health enhancing level of physical activity. Most prevalent perceived barriers for engaging physical activity were tiredness due to job (51.2%, n=63), not having enough time (28.4%, n=35) and not interested to do regular exercises (8.1%, n=10). Conclusions: Most of the nurses who work at COVID-19 wards were not engaged in an adequate level of physical activity and appropriate measures to overcome perceived barriers to engage physical activity among nurses are entailed.