Psychosocial Conditions of Quality of Life Among Undergraduate Students: A Cross Sectional Survey

Abstract

Quality of life (QOL) in the context of education is an understudied topic and research related to its’ relation to the sense of coherence (SOC), level of optimism (LOO) and self-efficacy (SE) among students seems to be missing. The rationale for this survey was to fill this gap in knowledge and therefore, the aim of the study is to examine the relationship between students’ QOL and psychological variables such as SOC, LOO and SE, and social ones such as type of faculty, students’ social background and sex. The quantitative cross sectional survey has been conducted at three higher education institutions in Poland in January 2006. The random sample of 396 undergraduate students (average age was 20.5 years) representing 5 different faculties namely physiotherapy, physical education, tourism and recreation, English and Polish philology has been selected and participated in the study. Four reliable and validated research tools have been used to collect the data. These included the SF-36, SOC-29, Seligman’s scale, and GSES. The results have shown to indicate that different variables had a significant effect on particular subscales of the QOL outcomes. For example, among social variables faculty had a significant effect on physical functioning, role limitation due to physical functioning, and changes in health. Sex had a significant effect on role limitation due to emotional problems, social functioning, and energy vitality. Social background had a significant effect on general health. Among psychological variables the sense of coherence was significantly related to all subscales of QOL. A significant effect was noted by self-efficacy on physical and social functioning. Level of optimism had a significant effect on energy-vitality and general health. This research survey has suggested that changes in academic curriculum might be implemented to improve students QOL

Personality and Self-Perception of Physical and Emotional Health among First-Year University Students

“…Statistically significant differences between male and female students were found in six out of eight SF-36 scales, where male students had higher scores, all except Physical functioning (PF) and limitations due to physical health (RP). These gender differences are also congruent with the results published in previous studies by Hopman et al (2000), Marshall et al (2008), Posadzki et al (2009), andRakovac et al (2013). Jureša (2000) Our subjects Ware & Gandek (1998) Legend: M = mean; SD = standard deviation; PF = Physical functioning; RP = Role-physical; BP = Bodily pain; GH = General health; VT = Vitality; SF = Social functioning; RE = Role--emotional; MH = Mental health Table 4 shows Pearson product-moment correlations between four personality traits (EPQ), depression symptoms (ZDS) and eight self-perceived health indicators (SF-36).…”

“…Page et al (2009) conducted a survey on a large number of Central and East European adolescents and found a significantly higher proportion of boys vs. girls rating their health as very good, and a higher proportion of girls than boys rating themselves as not healthy. Posadzki, Musonda, Debska, and Polczyk (2009) performed a study using SF-36 on a random sample of undergraduate students from 5 different faculties and also found that female students reported lower scores than males on role limitations due to emotional problems (RE), social functioning (SF) and vitality (VT). Rakovac, Pedisic, Pranic, Greblo, and Hodak (2013) recently performed a study on a random sample of Croatian university students using the 12-item Short--Form Health Survey and found that male students scored significantly higher than females on all scales.…”

Determinantes de la salud mental en estudiantes universitarios de Lima y Huánuco

“…Esta se encuentra relacionado con un conjunto de variables tales como las características sociodemográficas (el sexo, la edad, el nivel socioeconómico, el lugar de procedencia, entre otros), las conductas de salud (la actividad física, el consumo alcohol y tabaco, entre otros) y las variables psicológicas (sentido de coherencia, autoeficacia, bienestar, optimismo, entre otros) (Mikolajczyk et al, 2008;Posadzi, Musonda, Debska & Polczyk, 2009;Pekmezovic, Popovic, Tepavcevic, Gazibara & Paunic, 2011;Saravia, 2013;Sabbah, Sabbah, Khamis, Sabbah & Droubi, 2013;Shields & Shoshtari, 2001). La presente investigación se enfocará en las siguientes variables psicológicas: afrontamiento, autoeficacia y adaptación a la vida académica.…”

The Relationship Between Skill Deficits and Disability–A Transdiagnostic Study

“…There is evidence that single skill deficits also coincide with psychological strain and disability. Recently published research indicates that skill deficits are associated with greater impairment of daily life (e.g., Posadzki, Musonda, Debska, & Polczyk, 2009). Deficits in emotion regulation or social competence were related to greater disability in both the normal population (Extremera & Fernandez-Berrocal, 2002;Segrin & Taylor, 2007) and patients with physical illness (e.g., Grey, Boland, Davidson, Li, & Tamborlane, 2000;Phillips et al, 2009).…”