Assessment of selected health related fitness components of the Uganda Police Force from the Central region of Uganda

Abstract

This study was conducted in the Police force from the central region of Uganda. The objectives of the study were: to establish the fitness levels of the Uganda Police force with regard to selected fitness variables and to ascertain the relationship between duty performance and the selected fitness variables in the police force. Four (4) health related physical fitness components were assessed and these are: Aerobic endurance, Flexibility, Strength endurance and Percent body fat. The sample comprised of 60 subjects split equally between the Traffic police and the Riot police departments. A pre-experimental research design was used in this study. Purposive sampling procedure was employed in selecting the Police Departments. Stratified random sampling procedure was used in selecting the subjects and simple random sampling technique was used to choose the subjects per their duty stations, within the same department and of the same gender. The results were then compared to the already established norms as published by the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD 1985). Fitness tests for each of the selected fitness components were carried out and the data obtained was compared with the norms as established by AAHPERD (1985). There after, the data was analyzed using the analysis of variance (ANOV A) method in order to test the research hypotheses. For the aerobic condition, 73.3% from the traffic police department and 53.3% from the riot police department showed bad aerobic condition. For strength endurance levels; 60% of the subjects from the traffic police department scored strength endurance levels below average while 50% of the subjects from the riot police department scored above average. On the side of flexibility scores; 66.6% of the total sample from the riot police department had flexibility scores above the average mark while 50% of the total sample from the traffic police had their flexibility scores above the average mark. The flexibility scores from both the riot and traffic police departments therefore put all the subjects within the acceptable range. Body composition results revealed that there was no subject that was over fat from both the riot and traffic police department. It was recommended that regular fitness test programmes should be initiated in the Uganda police force.