New faculty, are you keeping physically fit?

If you’re a new, or relatively new, faculty member at a Canadian university, Megan Kirk has a survey she’d like you to complete. Considering the topic, perhaps it’s best that you not skip your aerobics class to fill it out.

Megan, a graduate student at the University of Victoria, is conducting an online survey on the health behaviours and patterns of physical activity among new faculty members. She explains in an e-mail:

Research has shown that professional careers are associated with the highest number of work hours per week, the greatest psychological demands, and the lowest on-the-job activity. This is worrisome considering the increasing number of young adults completing doctoral education and entering academic occupations. Thus, the purpose of this Canada-wide study is: 1) to evaluate the patterns of physical activity during leisure-time among a representative sample of Canadian young professionals entering their professional career as new faculty members using longitudinal retrospective analysis; and 2) to predict the individual reasons for changes in physical activity using a leading theoretical model.

To achieve these goals, she’s developed the online survey for faculty who’ve been hired within about the last five years. She says it should take no more than 15 minutes to complete. The link to the survey is here.

The study is being funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and Megan stresses it’s the first study of its kind in Canada. So don’t hesitate – participate!

If faculty members have any questions about the survey, Megan says they can contact her directly at [email protected].