A study of the demographics, health behaviors, health beliefs, and motivation to exercise of participants of a corporate fitness program

The Purpose of this study was to compare the demographic characteristics, health behaviors, health beliefs, and motivation to exercise of participants and people intending to participate in a corporate fitness program with those of non-participants and people not intending to participate. Six hundred employees of Lands' End, Inc. were randomly selected and mailed a questionnaire. A total of 307 employees returned the questionnaires for analysis. Raw scores were calculated and graphed for all data of this study. The Hypotheses were then tested with a Chi-square analysis. Significant differences were found between participants and non-participants as well as between those intending to participate and those not intending to participate. Demographic characteristics proved to be of little importance as only job classification showed any difference. However, participants appeared to be slightly healthier as they had fewer sick days and visited the physician less often. Participants believed that physical activity led to good health and always used that as motivation to exercise more regularly than non-participants. Participants also used fun, self-discipline, and body attractiveness as motivation to exercise. However, even though the participants appeared to be healthier than non-participants, the development of the Activity Center led to an increase in their exercise level. Employees who indicated that they intended to participate in the next six months were most likely to be salaried and believed that eating nutritious was important for their health. Those intending to participate also listed health and fitness and fun as motivation to exercise more than those people not intending to participate. Further study is suggested.Fisher Institute for WellnessThesis (M.S.