Profile of adolescent students on self-perception of health and risk behaviors

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Self-perceived health refers to the subjective assessment that an individual makes about their own health status, being used as a global assessment instrument.
OBJECTIVE: To analyze the profile of high school students at the Federal Institute of Piauí/Campus Teresina Zona Sul regarding health perception and health risk behaviors.
METHODS: Descriptive cross-sectional study. The sample was made up of 133 high school students integrated with the technical department of the Federal Institute of Piauí, Teresina Zona Sul campus. The variables studied: lifestyle, perception of health, stress and sleep, risk behaviors and level of physical activity. A questionnaire with 72 questions adapted from the COMPAC questionnaire, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Duarte academic performance table was used. Descriptive analysis was carried out as well as Pearson’s Chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test.
RESULTS: The majority of students’ perception of health and stress was positive. Schoolchildren between 16 and 17 years old showed a positive association with negative self-perception of stress (p=0.023) and negative self-perception of sleep quality (p=0.015). Negative self-perception of sleep quality was associated with students who live in urban areas (p=0.036) and study in the early years of high school (p=0.004). The low level of physical activity was associated with female students (p=0.001) and those who study in the afternoon (p=0.004).
CONCLUSION: The health perception of most students was positive, and the most common risk factor was the low level of weekly physical activity. It is necessary to encourage these students to increase regular physical activity, through physical education classes, projects and actions that encourage the practice of physical activities.