Relationship between Stress Severity and Motivation to Exercise among Undergraduate Physiotherapy Students in Malaysia

Abstract

Introduction: Physiotherapy students are vulnerable to stress due to the challenging scope of study and the dynamic learning environment. Studies found out that physiotherapy students have inadequate physical activity. Thus, sufficient motivation is vital in promoting active lifestyle. This study was conducted to evaluate stress severity and exercise motivation among physiotherapy students in Malaysia. This study also aimed to investigate the relationship between stress and exercise motivation. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 208 physiotherapy students in Malaysia. The Medical Student Stressor Questionnaire was used to evaluate stress severity while the Exercise Motivation Inventory-2 was used to evaluate exercise motivation. Results: Academic-related stressors (2.66±0.66) have the highest score among all the stressors, followed by teaching and learning related stressors (2.47±0.76) and group activities related stressors (2.08±1.01). Top three exercise motivation with highest means were positive health (4.34±0.87), ill-health avoidance (4.19±0.95) and strength and endurance (4.08±1.00). Academic related stressors were not significantly correlated with any of the 14 domains of exercise motivations. Teaching and learning related stressors were significantly positively correlated with affiliation (rs=0.198, p<0.05) and competition (rs=0.209, p<0.05). There was a significant positive correlation between group activities related stressors and competition (rs=0.166, p<0.05). However, group activities related stressors were significantly negatively correlated with health pressures (rs=-0.290, p<0.05), ill health avoidance (rs=-0.206, p<0.05), positive health (rs=-0.171, p<0.05), weight management (rs=-0.198, p<0.05) and strength and endurance (rs=-0.138, p<0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that moderate to high severity of stress exists among physiotherapy students in Malaysia, with academic stress as the top stressor. Positive health is the strongest motivation to exercise, followed by ill health avoidance and strength and endurance. This study can be utilized in planning a comprehensive approach to cope with stress and to enhance the exercise motivation among physiotherapy students in Malaysia.