A Survey on Physical Activities of Middle-aged Women Workers

Jung, Moon Hee

Abstract

This study was conducted to look into physical activities of middle-aged women workers and various factors related to them. Two sample groups of women workers were selected in a ceramic factory located in the suburbs of Mokpo city in Chonnam Provincd: the middle-aged group(73 women workers aged between 45-49) and the compared group(60 women workers aged between 35-39). Data were colledted curing the period of July 1-20, 1996. 1. The average score of job-related physical activities were 3.09 and 3.39 in the middle-aged group and the compared group respectively. However, when it comes to leisure-time physical activities, the two groups revealed little difference, scoring 1.50 on average. These facts show us that middle-aged women workers have little concern with their leisure-time physical activities because they perceive their job activities as heavy. 2. As for the middle-aged group, the most influential variables on job-related physical activities were 'speed of eating', 'body figure' and 'blood sugar level'. Only these three variables could account for 22.2% of job-related activities of middle-aged women workers. These results imply that the faster they eat, the closer their body figure is to fatness type, and the higher their blood sugar level is, the heavier they perceive their job activities. 3. 'Body figure' was the most influential variable on Percent Ideal Body Weight(PIBW) in both the groups. It could explain 29.2% and 14.1% of PIBW in the middle-aged group and the compared group respectively. It means that the closer their body figure is to fatness type, the higher their PIBW gets. 4. As for 'body figure', 35.61% of the middle-aged group revealed fatness type. None the less, most of the middle-aged respondents perceived their 'body figure' as normal. According to the above results, I'd like to propose the followings: 1) It is necessary to provide middle-aged women workers with group health education of 'body figure'. 2) It is desirable to give workers various incentives for the active participation in walking campaign before and after work. 3) Indoor exercises such as rope-skipping and stepping in work sites as a recommendable as leisure-time physical activities.