Lifestyle means the typical way a person goes about daily living³. A healthy life style is keeping fit, energetic and at reduced risk of disease, based on the choices of daily habits. Good nutrition, daily exercise and adequate sleep are the foundations for continuing good health. Managing stress in positive ways, instead of through smoking or drinking alcohol, reduces wear and tear on the body⁴.

Adolescence is stated as the period of transition from childhood, which starts with the onset of puberty. It comprises the individuals between the ages of ten to nineteen years. During this important period, a child undergoes a biological transition, which is characterized by puberty, related changes in physical appearance and the attainment of reproductive capability, psychological or cognitive transition, which reflects an individual’s thinking and social transition, which is related to the rights, privileges and responsibilities of an individual⁵.

A healthy lifestyle is a way of living that lowers the risk of being seriously ill or dying early. When healthy lifestyle is adopted, a more positive role model is provided for other people in the family, especially for children and adolescence⁶. Healthy lifestyle is the well being of all dimensions that makes intact and complete. Furthermore, getting pleasure from life by having enjoyable life experience in quiet and good settings, nutritious cooking, avoiding eating excessively greasy food and eating vitamins and vegetables, jogging, walking, playing basketball, tennis and exercising at Gyms, clean environment, personal hygiene and a clean home were used for health promoting behaviors. Health is also about having good social relationships with friends, family members, peers at school and neighbors. Health is keeping away from health undermining activities, such as cigarette smoking, drinking alcohol and using drugs⁷.

The development of healthy adolescents is a complex and evolving process that requires: supportive and caring families, peers and communities; access to high quality services (health, education, social and other community services); and opportunities to engage and succeed in the developmental tasks of adolescence⁸. Because adolescence have a strong natural preoccupation with appearance and have a high need for peer support and acceptance, health recommendations that they view as interfering with their concept of themselves as independent beings may be less likely to be followed. As a nurse its primary responsibility to identify the healthy lifestyle which the adolescence following in the current fast moving technological era. Hence, as investigators felt need of the present qualitative study “perception of adolescence on healthy lifestyle and contributing factors to health and its barrier ”.

MATERIAL AND METHODOLOGY:

Glaser and Strauss developed a grounded theory and its main thrust is to generate theories regarding social phenomena: that is, to develop higher level understanding that is “grounded” in, or derived from, a systematic analysis of data⁹. Grounded theory is appropriate when the study of social interactions or experiences aims to explain a process, not to test or verify an existing theory⁹. Researchers approach the question with disciplinary interests, background assumptions (sometimes called “sensitizing concepts”) and an acquaintance with the literature in the domain, but they neither develop nor test hypotheses¹⁰. Rather, the theory emerges through a close and careful analysis of the data. A descriptive, qualitative grounded theory approach was used to generate theory about the perception of adolescence on healthy lifestyle and factors contributing to health and its barrier.

The participants of the present study were first year B.Sc Nursing students. After obtaining administrative permission, twenty participants were recruited through purposive sampling technique. The criterion for participation in this study was simply being an adolescent (both male and female) who are willing to participate in the study, able to understand and speak English.

The tool consists of part A and part B. Part A comprises the demographic questions which are used to collect the baseline information from the students. It included age of the students, gender, religion, type of family, monthly income, previous knowledge regarding healthy lifestyle. Part B comprises semi-structured open ended questions to explore perception of adolescence on healthy lifestyle and factors contributing to health and its barrier.

The grounded theory method generally begins with a question or area of study without any performed concepts or area of study without any performed concepts or connections¹¹. The method’s aim is not only to generate theory but also to generate theory that is grounded in data. According to Strauss and Corbin, grounded theory is comprised of three main processes. These are descriptive, conceptual ordering, and theorizing. During description, the author’s attempts to clarify an event or experience as perceived by the subject, in this case the adolescent. Conceptual ordering consists of developing the concepts of the conceptual ordering process and relating them to each other in order to provide a theory that will explain or predict phenomena¹². Data were collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews, which is one hour in length. One of the researchers personally conducted the interviews in a private setting during the student’s study hall. This interview was conducted to elicit information regarding adolescence perception on health factors contributing to health and its barrier. The researcher personally met the samples and explain the importance of the study and informed that all the data collected will be kept in confidence. Privacy was made during the interview. After consent, the open ended question was asked. During the interview, field notes of observation, emerging categories, relationships of theories were recorded manually during interviews, followed by a review of the audio tape recordings and field notes before subsequent interviews.

IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW:

An in-depth interview is a method of research used in the social sciences. It is a type of semi structured interview. While a structured interview has formalized, limited set questions, a semi-structured interview is flexible, allowing new questions to be brought up during the interview as a result of what the interviewee says. The interviewer in a semi-structured interview generally has a framework of themes to be explored. After the purpose of the study and the research questions had been explained an appointment was made with those adolescent who consented to participate in the study.

During the first interview, participants indicated what they understood by adolescent health as a general concept. These responses were used by researchers to develop the interview process over time, focusing on the main factors identified by participants as affecting adolescent health. Interview were audio taped, took place over one to three sessions and lasted between 30 minutes and three hours with an average length of 70 minutes.

DATA ANALYSIS:

Analysis is the process of categorizing, organizing, synthesizing, and summarizing data so as to answer research questions¹³. The qualitative analysis explicates how individuals experience the world. The major element of qualitative analysis is to find, build, clarify, illustrate and explain a phenomenon. The analysis should take the form of a research easy containing certain expected elements, how the researcher introduces them and sequence them must be logical and help readers to “get it”, but otherwise the researcher has much leeway with regard to the structure of the report. In qualitative studies the purpose of the analysis is to organize the data into a meaningful pattern and to develop a structure that explains the phenomenon under study, based on individual interpretation.

Using the iterative process between data collection and analysis within grounded theory, the researcher seeks to identify patterns of interaction between and among subjects by logically liking two or more data categories i.e., similar topics sharing the same meaning. Strauss and Corbin explained the three major data coding strategies used in grounded theory research. Data were transcribed and micro analysis was used to generate initial categories using open codes. Axial coding consisted of relating these initial categories back to their subcategories. Relational statements, grounded in the data, were connected using memos created during data analysis. As categories emerged and evolved from the data, the relationship between the categories were investigated via systematic comparison. Theoretical and operational notes directed the next step in the research process to finalize the theory.

To ensure the credibility of the research process and findings all coded transcripts were sent to four experts for review. Memos were created by grouping all the coded interviews together. Memos included notes taken during the interview. These memos were used for creating diagrams throughout the entire research process. Memos were dated, referenced to data sources they were derived from, and included concept headings. Memos evolved as the research progressed. All memos were collapsed by codes beginning to resemble each other during sorting. Schematic representation of the emerged concepts was created as relational statements between the concepts were formed via axial coding. As categories became saturated and concepts were fully defined, relational statement connecting concepts emerged and a resultant theory emerged to explain the perception of adolescence on health and factors contributing to health and its barrier.

RESULTS:

The emerged concepts during in depth interview are dietary practices, physical activity, sleeping pattern, environmental sanitation and personal hygiene. Almost all the adolescents who participated in the present study verbalized that dietary practices are the prime factor for a healthy lifestyle. Eating healthy foods like fruits and vegetables daily, avoiding fast foods and cold drinks, eating all nutritious food items are the healthy lifestyle. In addition, the participants have mentioned that the unhealthy dietary practices such as eating Jung foods, deep fried items, eating too much fat items are leading contributors to the development of unhealthy lifestyle.

Adolescent perceived that physical activity and exercise improves health. Going to gym, involving in the sports activity, doing yoga and meditation are the healthy lifestyle of adolescents. Sound sleep at night and avoiding daytime sleep, chatting till midnight are some of the healthy and unhealthy lifestyle practices pointed out by the adolescents. Adolescents also mentioned that environmental sanitation such as purified drinking water, proper waste management, closed drainage system and Personal hygiene such as neatness, daily bath may also contribute to a healthy lifestyle.

Various factors serve as a barrier of a healthy lifestyle among the adolescents are craving for junk food, peer pressure of unhealthy lifestyle such as drinking alcohol, smoking, a busy life schedule which makes an adolescents to avoid physical activity and exercise also pointed out in the present analysis.

CONCLUSION:

This descriptive, qualitative grounded theory approach generated knowledge about the adolescence perception of health and factors contributing to health and its barrier. The adolescence who participated in this study described that dietary pattern, sleeping pattern, physical activity, environmental sanitation and personal hygiene are the sources of the health, the factors contributing to health and its barrier also discussed in this theory.

LIMITATION:

The primary limitation of this qualitative research is that sexual aspects and psychological aspects was not discussed in this grounded theory.

REFERENCE:

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Received on 14.01.2016 Modified on 27.01.2016

Asian J. Nur. Edu. and Research.2017; 7(1): 26-30.

DOI: 10.5958/2349-2996.2017.00007.6