The difference among three methods of assessing exercise attendance and scores on the spiritual well-being scale.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if an individual's level of spiritual well-being was a factor in that person's ability to adhere to an exercise program. The subjects of this study were Emporia State University students, staff, and faculty (N= 57) ages 17 to 32, who enrolled in an aerobics dance program offered through the Recreational Sports Center during the 1991 fall semester. Attendance of the participants was recorded throughout the program and participants were grouped by percent of attendance (high, medium, low, and dropout), attendance patterns (regular, sporadic, and never) and exact percentage of total attendance. Subjects were selected by a stratified random sampling and contacted by the researcher to fill out a survey and questionnaire. The survey was used to identify exerciser characteristics of the groups, and the questionnaire used was Ellison's (1983) Spiritual Well-Being Scale. Data were analyzed through the use of analysis of variance to detennine if differences existed among attendance groupings and the scores on the Spiritual Well-Being scale. Also, a chisquare analysis was utilized to determine if certain characteristics of exercisers differed with attendance groupings. All data were analyzed at the p < .05 level of significance. No significant differences were found between attendance groups and Spiritual Well-Being scores. Also, no significant differences were found between attendance groups and the characteristics of the exercisers.