Perceived Wellness of College Professors, Faculty and Staff

With the current rise in various concerning health conditions, researchers are placing greater importance on overall wellness. The World Health Organization defines wellness as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Additionally, wellness is thought to be a crucial component to living a higher quality of life. Previous studies suggest that physical activity could play a large role in overall perceived wellness; however, current research has yet to explore this relationship. PURPOSE: Therefore, the purpose of the current investigation was to determine the relationship between physical wellness and the alternative wellness dimensions of university employees. METHODS: Participants (n = 49) were asked to complete the Perceived Wellness Survey, a 36-item, 6-point Likert scale assessment (1. “Very strongly disagree” to 6. “Very strongly agree”), which measures the following six dimensions of wellness: physical, psychological, social, emotional, intellectual and spiritual, with six questions per dimension. The researchers employed a Pearson Product Moment Coefficient (α \u3c.05) to determine the relationship between physical wellness and the remaining dimensions (psychological, emotional, spiritual, social, and intellectual). RESULTS: The results of the statistical analysis recognized physical wellness to only significantly correlated with psychological wellness (r= .290, p= .043). The psychological wellness, however, significantly correlates with all wellness dimensions: emotional dimension (r=.344, p = .015), spiritual dimension (r=.510, p \u3c .001), social dimension (r=.499, p \u3c .001) and lastly, the intellectual dimension (r=.357, p=.012). CONCLUSION: These results suggest physical wellness may not directly correlate with the other dimensions, however, the significant correlates with the psychological dimension may infer an indirectly impact of physical wellness on the four alterative wellness dimensions. Furthermore, the researchers advises university employees to regularly participate in physical activity and exercise geared towards optimizing health and overall well-being