Abstract: This study assessed the level of domestic workload and physical activity among working middle age women in relation to meeting the recommended guidelines for physical activity.
Methods: The cross-sectional survey recruited seventy middle aged women from Federal Medical Centre, Ondo-state, South-western Nigeria. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Health Research Ethic Committee of Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo-state, Nigeria. Informed consent of all participants were sought and obtained after the rationale behind the study has been explained to them. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the domestic workload and the level of physical activity of the participants. Data were summarized using descriptive statistics statistics of percentages and frequency tables.
Results: The result of this study showed that 73.86% of the respondents were daily engaged in heavy domestic workload while 26.14% were daily engaged in light domestic workload. 51.4% of the respondents engaged in vigorous physical activities of not less than 3 days in a week, 55.6% in moderate physical activities while 83.9% participated in brisk walking of not less than 3 days in a week. The result also showed that greater proportion of the respondents that engaged in vigorous physical activities (91.42%), moderate physical activities (95.71%) and brisk walking (82.86%) spent more than 30 minutes during each exercise session.
Conclusion: Majority of Nigerian women in paid employment lead a very active life by engaging in leisure time physical activity in spite of their heavy domestic workload thereby meeting the minimum criteria for adequate physical activity.
Keywords: Physical activity, Domestic workload, Middle-aged, Women.
Title: LEVEL OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND DOMESTIC WORKLOAD OF MIDDLE AGED NIGERIAN WOMEN
Author: Samuel O Bolarinde; Oluwatoyin, A Ewemooje; Olayemi, G Omotola; Oluwatobi L, Salami
International Journal of Healthcare Sciences
ISSN 2348-5728 (Online)
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