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A COMPARISON OF OVERALL WELLNESS IN UNDERGRADUATE HEALTH AND NON-HEALTH MAJORS

Abstract

Kaitlin Fraser1, Michael Pyle1, Andrea Cullers1

1Missouri Southern State University, Joplin, Missouri.

In the 2015 College Senior Survey, 50.5% of seniors at Missouri Southern State University (MSSU) stated that they were in the top ten percent or above average in emotional health, while only 33.4% of respondents claimed to be in the same range for physical health (Higher, 2017). PURPOSE: This study was conducted to determine if there was a difference found in the health of health majors and non-health majors enrolled at MSSU. METHODS: Students enrolled in the MSSU Kinesiology Department’s Lifetime Wellness course participated in this study. Data for this study were collected from surveys completed by students enrolled in this course. The surveys focused on Dietary Intake, Life Stressors, and Aerobic Fitness. The results of the surveys were compared between students in health related and non-health related majors. The results for the surveys were analyzed using a separate factorial ANOVA test for each based on major group, gender, and traditional or non-traditional age to determine if any major group differences would be evident when breaking down student demographic classifications. No post hoc tests were conducted. It was hypothesized that students in pre-health profession majors would more closely align with currently established levels of wellness in these areas. RESULTS: There was no significant difference found in responses between health majors and non-health majors in any survey. Estimated VO2 max was M=45.54, SE=2.07 ml/kg/min for the health and M=41.52, SE=1.31 ml/kg/min for the non-health majors [F(1,234)=2.691, p>0.05]. The health majors reported M=12.67, SE 7.820 symptoms, while the non-health majors reported M=13.29, SE=7.548 symptoms [F(1,236=11.426), p>0.05]. Health majors met M=0.42, SE=0.551 dietary intake categories while non-health majors met M=0.40, SE=0.493 categories [F(1,220)=0.091, p>0.05]. Females did report a significantly higher [F(1,236)=11.426, p=0.0001] number of stressors (M=16.05, SE=1.09) than men (M=9.84, SE=1.48). CONCLUSION: The results of this study will be helpful to faculty members at MSSU who might use the data for future research to determine why self-rated health is so low and to use the knowledge in developing new curricula to target areas of health education for students by major.

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