Cross-sectional insights into exercise physiology knowledge among medical students in Jordan

Iman Aolymat; Yara Almadani; Majd M Albarakat; Ayah Khleaf Oleimat; Mass Al-Nsour; Marah E'lemat

doi:10.1177/20503121241226608

Cross-sectional insights into exercise physiology knowledge among medical students in Jordan

SAGE Open Med. 2024 Jan 25:12:20503121241226608. doi: 10.1177/20503121241226608. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Iman Aolymat¹, Yara Almadani², Majd M Albarakat³, Ayah Khleaf Oleimat⁴, Mass Al-Nsour⁴, Marah E'lemat⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, The Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan.
² School of Medicine, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
³ Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan.
⁴ Faculty of Medicine, The Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan.

Abstract

Objectives: Exercise physiology is a branch of physiology that studies how physical activity and exercise alter the structure and function of living organisms. Knowledge of exercise physiology is crucial to improve athletic performance, improve people's ability to cope with extreme circumstances and approach chronic diseases. This research aimed to evaluate the knowledge of future healthcare professionals, namely, the medical students in Jordan regarding exercise physiology.

Methods: Responses were collected from 524 undergraduate medical students enrolled in clinical clerkship. An online survey that evaluated participants' basic understanding of various physiological concepts related to physical exercises, such as respiratory exchange ratio, physical fitness, V̇O₂ max and exercise at high altitudes was employed in the study.

Results: 63.2% of participants had a poor level of exercise physiology knowledge. Misconceptions regarding V̇O₂ max definition (93.3%), application (46.4%), significance (35.6%) and related physiological factors (48.7%) were observed. Students had misconceptions about physical fitness evaluation questions (52.5%, 39%, and 41.8%, respectively). Student proportions of 37%, 41%, 80.3% and 73.1% showed misconceptions about muscle groups and energy systems during training, training prescription variables, respiratory exchange ratio, and high-altitude performance, respectively. Significant differences in knowledge levels were found based on respondent characteristics (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: Knowledge of exercise physiology is more than desirable for medical professionals. Therefore, efforts must be made to increase awareness and improve knowledge about basic physiological fundamentals related to exercise physiology among medical students in Jordan, as they represent the backbone of healthcare professionals of the future who will deal with medical conditions related to physical activity and exercise.

Keywords: Exercise; Jordan; exercise physiology; physical activity; physiology.