Health and spirituality 'walk along' in wellness journey of medical students

To assess and compare knowledge, attitudes and practices of male and female medical students of Karachi in the context of physical, emotional and spiritual wellness. The cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was conducted from January to December 2010, comprising randomly selected 800 male/fema...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association 2013-04, Vol.63 (4), p.495-500
Main Authors: Rehman, Rehana, Syed, Sadiqa, Hussain, Mehwish, Shaikh, Saifullah
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Diet
Emotions
Female
Health aspects
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Humans
Male
Medical colleges
Medical students
Motor Activity
Pakistan
Sex Factors
Spirituality
Students, Medical - psychology
Surveys
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Summary:To assess and compare knowledge, attitudes and practices of male and female medical students of Karachi in the context of physical, emotional and spiritual wellness. The cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was conducted from January to December 2010, comprising randomly selected 800 male/female medical students in eight medical colleges of Karachi. The responses--'never,' 'sometimes,' 'mostly' and 'always' (numbered 0-4 )--were analysed in terms of frequency, proportion and percentages by Predictive Analysis Software (PASW) version 18. Chi-square test was applied for comparison of categorical aspects of wellness, and results were declared significant at p < 0.05. Of the 800 questionnaires, 736 (92%) fully-completed questionnaires comprised the study universe. According to the survey, 503 (68.37%), 504 (68.45%) and 658 (89.35%) medical students were aware of the concept of physical, emotional and spiritual wellness respectively. Males had greater involvement in physical activity (p < 0.001), while females selected healthy diet (p < 0.03). The dimensions of physical and emotional wellness on an aggregate did not differ significantly in both genders, but knowledge and practices of spiritual wellness in females gave them direction to face episodes of anxiety for which males had to take help from mentors and psychologists (p < 0.034, p < 0.0001). Spirituality, the key success factor in better wellness management, was found to be greater among female medical students.
ISSN:0030-9982