Way of life and health of Grodno University students

Abstract

Introduction. Preservation and strengthening of youth's health is one of the state priorities in the Republic of Belarus. Aim. To reveal peculiarities of students' way of life and health factors. Material & method. The survey answers of 350 students of Grodno State Medical University and Yanka Kupala Grodno State University questionnaire were analyzed. The students were surveyed in May-October of 2009 under the program of a sociological research «Health of students» organized in different regions of Belarus and Russia (the head was professor I.V. Zhuravlyova). Self-estimations of health and the attitude to it, factors of nutrition, physical activity, emotional background, behavior in relation to psychoactive substances, sexual behavior, behavior of students in relation to medical aid, preventive measures, the relation to health services were studied. Results. Only 34.9% of the students estimated their own health as «good». The majority (54.4%) of students considered their health as «satisfactory». More than a half of the students considered good health as a priority to achieve success in life. Simultaneously, according to the students' opinion, their own efforts were the most significant for their health status. The majority (87%) of the students considered that they took care of their health. In every fifth case self-health care was caused by its deterioration. Despite the positive relation to health, high prevalence of risk factors in relation to nutrition was revealed; 22.8% of the students smoked. The problem of the frequent use of beer was especially manifested: 17.1 % of young women and 47.9 % of young men answered that they used beer often. About 7.1% of the students tried drugs; 18.6% had acquaintances that used drugs. Only 9.5% were engaged daily in physical activity. Despite a high need for health-related information, low medical activity and insufficient knowledge about public health services system as a whole was revealed among the students. The expressed gender distinctions on a number of factors were significant. Conclusion. The study results allowed to allocate directions of preventive measures for the formation of health-oriented behaviors in students of Grodno universities.