Abstract:

The aim of this study was to evaluate the physical activity levels of the caregivers of the schizophrenic patients.This research was descriptive and was conducted with face-to-face interviews with relatives of schizophrenia patients enrolled in a Community Mental Health Center. The sample of the study consisted of 124 individuals who agreed to participate in the study. Socio-demographic data form and International Physical Activity Questionnaire were used for data collection. In order to evaluate the demographic data of the study, t-test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used in order to evaluate the relationship between number and percentage distributions, socio-demographic characteristics and International Physical Activity questionnaire. The mean age of the participants was 38,26 ± 4,26, 61,32% female, 38,68% male, 34,65% married, 81,65% single, 10,47%. 27.49% are primary school / middle school, 33% are high school and 29.04% are university graduates. When the body mass index of the participants was evaluated, 65.35% were overweight, 54.95% were inactive and 33.85% were given care for 6-10 years. When sociodemographic and physical activity levels are compared; 41,17% of women, 19,18% of those with care years 1-5 years and 52,46% of overweights were found to be inactive in terms of physical activity and the difference was statistically significant (p <0,05).  In our study, it was observed that the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants significantly affected the physical activity level. 

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