Awareness and Attitude of Community in Chiro, Hirna and Badesa Town Towards Physical Exercise for Health Benefit

Awareness and Attitude of Community in Chiro, Hirna and Badesa Town Towards Physical Exercise for Health Benefit

Nigatu Nemomsa, Kaleab Terefe Oda Bultum University

Abstract :- The present study aimed to investigate the awareness and attitude of awareness and attitude of community in Chiro, Hirna and Badesa town towards physical exercise for health benefit. Primary data was used for the study and Sample was drawn from the community of Chiro, Hirna and Badesa Towns. To draw sample from the population Slovins formula ( 1960 ), was employed. Accordingly, 395 respondents were included in the study. The data were gathered using questionnaire from the randomly selected respondents from each town and it was analysed using frequency, percentage and independent sample t-test.

The results showed that around that 14% of male respondents and 16.67% of the female respondents of those living in Chiro town had negative attitude to physical exercise. 21.33% of male respondents and 18.67% of female respondents had neutral attitude. 18% of male and 6 % of female respondents had favorable attitude towards physical exercise and 3.33 % of male and 1.33% of female respondents had positive attitude whereas, only 0.67% of female respondents had highly positive attitude and awareness towards physical exercise for health benefit and work efficiency. The result also shows that there was insignificant difference in attitude between male and female respondents in Chiro town.

In Badesa town, results revealed that 2.46% of male respondents had highly negative attitude and awareness towards physical exercise for health benefit and work efficiency. 19.67% of male respondents and 14.8% of female respondents had negative attitude and awareness. In addition, 17.21% of male and 16.4 % of female respondents had favorable attitude towards physical exercise and 15.57 % of male and 6.56% of female respondents in Hirna town had favorable attitude and awareness towards physical exercise for health benefit and that there was insignificant difference between attitude of males towards physical exercise and female respondents of Hirna town.

Key word: Awareness, Attitude, Health Benefit, Physical Exercise and Physical Education

1. INTRODUCTION

Making people aware of the benefits of participation in physical exercise to improve health and work efficiency is a major challenge for public health policy makers, health care providers and communities. Effective interventions are required to fulfill the overall population-health aim to increase total physical activity in the community (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2000) which serves to bring public attention to the minimum amount of physical activity required to achieve health benefits for better life style.

Attitudes are born from beliefs that we have about people and things. They shape our behaviors in countless ways and determine our involvement in activities, the goals that we set and those we decide to abandon. (Ajzen, 1975 and Fishbein, 1980) theory of reasoned action further explains that attitudes flow from beliefs and yield intentions and actions. Intentions are a function of two basic determinants: ones personal attitude toward a behavior, and the attitude of others, including peers and parents, toward that behavior. The first determinant is the individuals positive or negative evaluations for performing the behavior. Generally, people with positive beliefs will have a favorable attitude toward the object of the beliefs and conversely will have an unfavorable attitude if their beliefs are negative (Silverman and Subramaniam, 1999). The second determinant is the persons perception of social pressure to perform or not perform the behavior based on the evaluation of others. Thus, an attitudinal consideration and a normative consideration are formed that exert different degrees of power toward influencing ones behaviors for more positive or negative responses.

Thus, the researcher tried to identify the level of attitude and awareness of the society of Chiro, Hirna and Badesa town and answered the following research questions:

• How much level of awareness and attitude of the communities have towards physical exercise for

  their health and daily work efficiency?

• What the barriers influence communities attitudes towards physical exercise?

• Who have a better awareness and attitude among male and female towards physical exercise for

their health?

The scope of this study was delimited to western Hararge zone Chiro, Hirna and Badesa town community towards the awareness and attitude on physical exercise for their health benefit and work efficiency. It was also delimited to the knowledge they have on the benefit of physical exercise for health, work efficiency and the barriers to physical exercise were also included in this study.

1. MATERIAL AND METHODS

   3.1 Description of the Study Area

   This study was conducted at Chiro, Hirna and Badesa town communities to assess the awareness and attitude towards physical exercise for health benefit work efficiency. Chiro, Hirna and Badesa town is found in Oromia regional state of

   western Hararghe zone. It is found around 331km from Addis Ababa to the eastern part of Ethiopia.

   3.2. Sources of Data

   Primary data was used for this study. These data was gathered from the community member in Chiro, Hirna and Badesa town.

   1. Research Design

      The goal of this study was to investigate the awareness and attitude of the community towards the physical exercise and its benefit for their health work efficiency. It was survey study, one of the descriptive studies. The survey method was used for this study, as was found to be an appropriate technique for collecting vast information and opinions from quite a large number of respondents.

   2. Sample and Sampling Techniques

      Population of this study was the community of Chiro, Hirna and Badesa Town. To draw sample from the population Slovins formula ( 1960 ), was employed as follows:

      n= N / ( 1+ N * e^2 ) where

      N: population size n: sample size

      e : significance level , for eg. (0.05).

      Accordingly, the sample size for the

      study will be=

      =33,670/(1+33,670*0.05^2)

      =395

   3. Data Collection Instrument

   To collect data for this study, two data collecting instruments were employed. These were: questionnaire and interview.

   1. 3.5.1 Questionnaire

      Questionnaire was used as a major data collecting instrument due to its convenience to collect adequate data from a large number of respondents. To make the data manageable close ended questionnaire was used to collect data from community. This tool was selected because it helps to collect data easily from a large number of

      respondents at minimum cost and enables to simply handle and manage the collected data.

   2. 3.5.2. Interview

   Structured interview was used to collect data from two primaries and two secondary school as well as from youth and sport commission expert and professional, about their attitudes towards daily physical exercise and its benefit for health and work efficiency. It was used to identify their awareness level.

   1. Methods and Procedures of Data Collection

      The researcher used two methods of data collecting instruments (questionnaire and interview). In the first section of the questionnaire personal information regarding participant was taken by the researcher such as age, sex, educational level, job categry. In the second section of the questionnaire, that the researcher assessed their awareness and attitude towards physical exercise for health benefit and work efficiency.

   2. Method of Data Analysis

   For this study descriptive analysis of frequency, percentage, and mean and independent sample t-test was used. The independent sample t-test also was employed to compare both sexes of their awareness and attitude level.

2. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

   1. Results and Discussion

      This chapter deals with the presentation and analysis of the data collected from respondents from Chiro, Badesa and Hirna town. The data was gathered from randomly selected respondents who live in Chiro, Badesa and Hirna town well as from youth and sport commission experts and professionals through questionnaires and interview, respectively. All the data gathered from the questionnaires were organized and analyzed in tabular form and interpreted using frequency, percentage, mean and independent sample t-test. The qualitative information gathered through interviews were narrated and interpreted in quantitative manner. The first part of this chapter deals with characteristics of respondents while the second part deals with the analysis of the data corresponding to each question.

      1. Demographic characteristics of the participants

         Table1: Characteristics of Respondents

         Sex				Total
         Male		Female
         N	%	N	%	N	%
         243	61.7	151	38.3	394	100

         As indicated in table 1, among the respondents 61.7% were male and the rest 38.3 were female.

         Table 2: Characteristics of Respondents

         	Respondents
         Qualification	Measurement	Male	Female	Total
         Illiterate	N	42	30	72.0
         	%	17.3	19.9	37.2
         1-5 grade	N	29	26	55.0
         	%	11.9	17.2	29.2

         	5-10 grade	N	53	32	85.0
         		%	21.8	21.2	43.0
         	Level I-IV	N	68	37	105.0
         		%	28.0	24.5	52.5
         	Diploma	N	33	18	51.0
         		%	13.6	11.9	25.5
         	First Degree & above	N	18	8	26.0
         		%	7.4	5.3	12.7
         	Total	N	243	151	394.0
         		%	100	100

      2. Response on awareness and attitude and awareness towards physical exercise for health benefit and work efficiency

         Table 3: Frequency and percentage of respondents in Chiro town on attitude and awareness towards physical exercise for health benefit and work efficiency

         	Respondents in Chiro town
         Responses	Male			Female		Total
         	F	%	F	%	F	%
         Highly Negative Attitude				0
         Negative Attitude	21	14.00	25	16.67	46	30.67
         Neutral Attitude	32	21.33	28	18.67	60	40.00
         Favorable Attitude	27	18.00	9	6	36	24.00
         Positive Attitude	5	3.33	2	1.333	7	4.67
         Highly Positive Attitude		0	1	0.667	1	0.67
         Total	85	57	65	43.33	150	100

         Table 3 shows that 14% of male respondents and 16.67% of the female respondents of those living in Chiro town had negative attitude to physical exercise. 21.33% of male respondents and 18.67% of female respondents had neutral attitude. 18% of male and 6 % of female respondents had

         favorable attitude towards physical exercise and 3.33 % of male and 1.33% of female respondents had positive attitude whereas, only 0.67% of female respondents had highly positive attitude and awareness towards physical exercise for health benefit and work efficiency.

         Table 4: Frequency and percentage of respondents in Hirna town on attitude and awareness towards physical exercise for health benefit and work efficiency

         Respondents in Hirna
         Male		Female		Total
         	F	%	F	%	F	%
         Highly Negative Attitude	3	2.46		0	3	2.46
         Negative Attitude	24	19.67	18	14.8	42	34.43
         Neutral Attitude	21	17.21	20	16.4	41	33.61
         Favorable Attitude	19	15.57	8	6.56	27	22.13
         Positive Attitude	5	4.10	4	3.28	9	7.38
         Highly Positive Attitude		0.00		0	0	0.00
         	72	59.02	50	41	122	100

         Table 4 shows that 2.46% of male respondents had highly negative attitude and awareness towards physical exercise for health benefit and work efficiency. 19.67% of male respondents and 14.8% of female respondents had negative attitude and awareness. In addition, 17.21% of male and

         16.4 % of female respondents had favorable attitude towards physical exercise and 15.57 % of male and 6.56%

         of female respondents in Hirna town had favorable attitude and awareness towards physical exercise for health benefit. As indicated on table 4, 4.1% of male and 3.28% of female respondents had positive and no respondents from Hirna town had highly positive attitude and awareness towards physical exercise for health benefit and work efficiency.

         Table 5: Frequency and percentage of respondents in Badesa town on attitude and awareness towards physical exercise for health benefit and work efficiency

         Respondents in Badesa
         Male		Female		Total
         	F	%	F	%	F	%
         Highly Negative Attitude		0.00	1	0.82	1	0.82
         Negative Attitude	19	15.57	17	13.9	36	29.51
         Neutral Attitude	36	29.51	13	10.7	49	40.16
         Favorable Attitude	25	20.49	3	2.46	28	22.95
         Positive Attitude	4	3.28	2	1.64	6	4.92
         Highly Positive Attitude	2	1.64		0	2	1.64
         	86	70.49	36	29.5	122	100

         Table 5 shows that 0.82% of female respondents had highly negative attitude and awareness towards physical exercise for health benefit and work efficiency. It shows 15.57% of male respondents and 13.9% of female respondents had negative attitude and awareness. In addition, 29.51% of male and 10.7 % of female respondents had neutral attitude towards physical exercise

         and 20.49 % of male and 2.46% of female respondents in Badesa town had favorable attitude and awareness towards physical exercise for health benefit. 3.28% of male and 1.64% of female respondents had positive and 1.64% of male respondents from Badesa town had highly positive attitude and awareness towards physical exercise for health benefit and work efficiency.

      3. Male and Female respondents comparative response on awareness and attitude towards physical exercise for health benefit and work efficiency

   Table 6: Comparative responses of Male and Female respondents in Chiro town

   Variable	Gender	N	M	SD	SEd	t-value	Significance Level(2tailed)
   Attitude towards physical exercise	Male	85	3.18	0.879
   	Female	65	2.67	0.882	0.095	2.25	P>0.05

   df = N1+N2-2= 148, df = Degree of Freedom, N = Number of Sample, M = Mean, SD = Standard Deviation, SEd = Standard Error of Difference

   Results given in Table 6 shows, the t-value of 2.25 assuming equal variance between the groups and mean attitude of male respondents 3.18 and those of female equals 2.67 having a standard deviation of 0.879 and 0.882

   respectively. The result of the table shows there was insignificant difference attitudes of male and female respondents towards physical exercise for health benefit and work efficiency in Chiro town.

   Table 7: Comparative responses of male and female respondents in Hirna town

   Variable	Sex	N	M	SD	SEd	t-value	Significance Level(2tailed)
   Attitude towards physical exercise	Male	72	2.99	1.028
   	Female	50	2.96	0.925	0.12	0.144	P>0.05

   df = N1+N2-2= 120, df = Degree of Freedom, N = Number of Sample, M = Mean, SD = Standard Deviation, SEd = Standard Error of Difference

   The result on the table 7 shows the t-value of 0.144 assuming equal variance between the groups and mean attitude of male 2.99 and mean attitude of female respondents 2.96 at a standard deviation of 1.028. The

   result obtained shows that there was insignificant difference between attitude of males towards physical exercise and female respondents of Hirna town.

   Table 8: comparative responses of male and female respondents in Badesa town

   Variable	Grade	N	M	SD	SEd	t-value	Significance Level(2tailed)
   Attitude towards physical exercise	Male	86	3.23	0.93
   	Female	36	2.67	0.89	0.1	3.1	P>0.05

   df = N1+N2-2= 120, df = Degree of Freedom, N = Number of Sample, M = Mean, SD = Standard Deviation, SEd = Standard Error of Difference

   Results given in Table 8 shows, the t-value of 3.1 assuming equal variance between the groups and mean attitude of male respondents 3.23 and those of female equals 2.67 having a standard deviation of 0.93 and 0.89 respectively. The result of the table shows there was insignificant difference in attitudes of male and female respondents.

3. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

1. Conclusions

   Conclusions were drawn on the basis of findings of the data analysis. The level of awareness and attitude of students and academic staff of Chercher high school in Chiro had been identified and compared. The following conclusions were drawn:

   • Most students of grade 9 Chercher high school had negative attitude and low awareness towards

     the benefit of physical exercise for health. A few of grade 9 students had positive attitude and were aware of the health benefit of physical exercise.

     • Similarly, in grade 10, most students had negative

       attitude towards physical exercise and only few of them were aware and had positive attitude for physical exercise.

     • Students of grade 10 were highly negative to physical exercise compared to those of grade 9. This shows that the awareness level is increasing with respect to the new generation.

     • Female students were highly negative to the

       physical exercise and they lack awareness on physical exercise helps for health.

       • Teachers from Chercher high school had positive attitude and were aware of the health benefit of physical exercise.

2. Recommendations

Most research findings shows that the awareness level of society of different foreign countries these days is good and they have positive attitude to perform physical exercise for the sake of health. However, results in western Hararghe selected towns show most of the community had negative attitude and low awareness towards health benefit of physical exercise. Hence the researcher recommended that:

• It will be better if research on the way to improve

  awareness and attitude of society towards physical exercise will be made

• It will be better if the curriculum gives due attention to physical exercise.

• It will be better if awareness creation will be made

  using different medias like: Radio, short meetings, and etc.

• Due attention shall be given to aware the community.