| dc.description.abstract | Physical activity and spiritual wellness of white males in Potchefstroom.
Total health consists of a variety of components, notably the physical, mental,
emotional, social and spiritual dimensions. The spiritual dimension is seen by
some researchers as the unifying dimension or the avenue through which the
other dimensions interact with one another. A high level of spiritual wellness
(SW) is thus considered by some to be the basis for participation in physical
activity, a healthy lifestyle and good health. The aim of this study was to
determine if a high level of SW would show any relationship with participation
in physical activity.
The subjects of this study were 525 caucas1on male inhabitants of
Potchefstroom, a city in the North-West Province in South Africa. Subjects
between the ages 30-60 were selected at random according to their street
addresses. SW was measured with the spiritual well-being scale of Ellison and
physical activity with the physical activity index (PAI) of Sharkey. The
relationship of these instruments with each other was evaluated by means of
a one-way analysis of variance, the omega square and the effect size calculation
of Cohen.
Participation in physical activity as well as quality of participation in physical
activity showed statistical significant (p<0.05) relations with religious,
existential and spiritual well-being. Level of religious, existential and spiritual
well-being also showed statistical significant (p < 0.05) relations with both a
tendency to exercise and the quality of the respondents participation in
physical activity.
The relationship of the two measuring instruments (SW and PAI) with each
other were however not practically significant (ES <0.8). According to the
omega square calculation, PAI contributed 1.8%, 4.4% and 3.5% to the
respective variances of religious, existential and spiritual wellness.
Regarding the contribution of religious, existential and spiritual wellness to the
variance of physical activity, values of respectively 0.8%, 3.3% and 3.2% were
found. PAI and SW thus showed equal but not practically significant (ES< 0.8)
contributions to each others variances. This indicate that participation in
physical activity does not have a practical significant effect on level of spiritual
wellness. It is also clear from this results that spiritual wellness is not a
practical significant contributor to a tendency to participate in physical activity.
The results of this study does however show statistical significant relationships
between physical activity and level of spiritual wellness, and therefore suggest
some form of relation. | en_US |
