Honorary Figure of Russian Higher Education, Dr.Hab., Professor A.E. Bolotin¹
PhD, Associate Professor O.V. Mironova²
Associate Professor S.M. Lukina³
PhD, Associate Professor L.V. Yarchikovskaya^3
1Peter the Great St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University, St. Petersburg
²St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, St. Petersburg
³Saint Petersburg State University

Keywords: healthy lifestyle, university students, educational technology, health promotion behaviour.

Introduction. Today, the studies covering formation of healthy lifestyle skills in university students are pursued actively in the modern scientific community [1-5]. The combination of existing negative social and demographic factors along with poor health of students requires new approaches to the students' healthy lifestyle skills building process. Well-developed healthy life skills determine the equivalent social behaviour of students. The students’ social interaction with the surrounding world may be negative and have detrimental consequences for their health. Therefore, mastering the knowledge of healthy lifestyle and appropriate social and behavioral skills is a vital component determining general physical and mental health of university students.

The recent studies have shown the low level of students’ proficiency in the issues concerning healthy lifestyle organization [1, 3]. These studies have also revealed the fact that the social behaviour of university students fail to conform to the principles of a healthy lifestyle. At the moment, there is no effective technology for healthy lifestyle skills development in university students.

Thus, the study is relevant due to the necessity of improving the effectiveness of healthy lifestyle organization by university students and the low level of the students’ proficiency in the issues relating to health promotion behaviour.

Analysis of literary sources showed that applying the teaching techniques and means of physical education and training that are highly motivating for maintenance of healthy lifestyle is a possible solution for improving the health promotion behaviour in students [1, 3, 4]. However, the conducted analysis of the physical education course content revealed that it is focused mostly on the development of physical qualities alone and does not fully address the issues of healthy lifestyle skills building.

Objective of the study was to justify an educational technology of healthy lifestyle skills development in university students and to provide experimental verification of its effectiveness.

Methods and structure of the study. In order to experimentally verify the effectiveness of the developed technology of healthy lifestyle skills building in university students, we have carried out an educational experiment in St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering. Research subjects represented by the second-year university students were split into two groups: study group (SG) and reference group (RG), each consisting of 27 people. Over the course of the one-year long experiment, the following methods were applied: assessment of physical qualities development, psychophysiological, psychodiagnostic and empirical research methods (generalization of the advanced pedagogical experience, observation, opinion polls, questionnaires, qualitative and quantitative data analysis, statistical analysis of research materials).

Results and discussion. The conducted research indicates that the university educational environment sets stiff requirements for students’ health and working capacity. In this regard, the specialists in the field of physical education and sport are now facing the challenge of effective influencing the students in their lifestyle choices and converting them to healthy living. Currently, there is an urgent necessity for introducing the healthy lifestyle skills building system for university students. The primary objective of such a system is to provide conditions for maintenance of good physical and mental state of students. On the basis of the approaches listed above, we have developed an educational technology of healthy lifestyle skills building in university students, which is illustrated in Figure 1. 

Fig. 1. Educational technology of healthy lifestyle skills formation in university students

Practical implementation of the developed educational technology and healthy lifestyle skills building program revealed that physical education and sports activities are essential in terms of healthy living. Application of such an educational technology provides the university students with experience of self-organization and self-discipline in everyday life, which are necessary for health enhancement.

In the course of the study it was found that effective formation of healthy lifestyle skills in students is built upon their awareness of the fact that these skills are crucial for health improvement and maintenance of personal and social wellness. In this context, health maintenance is construed as a principal instrumental value in achieving success in professional career and personal life.

Analysis of the obtained data indicates a considerable teaching potential of means and methods of physical education within formation of the students’ strong motivation for leading a healthy life. At the same time, the practice of physical education organization in universities reveals insufficient efforts to implement the teaching potential. For this purpose, the educational technology of healthy lifestyle skills formation in university students has been developed in the present study on the basis of general principles of the educational process organization and potential of various forms of physical education.

This technology is focused on dealing with both general educational, pedagogical issues and specific goals of developing healthy lifestyle skills in university students. Conceptual approaches to reaching the listed target goals were implemented in three interrelated areas:

• forming the students’ knowledge about healthy lifestyle specifics;
• generating the knowledge-based motivation and developing the habit of leading a healthy life;
• transforming the knowledge into clear perception of a healthy lifestyle as an absolute necessity and appropriate social behaviour as a vital prerequisite for social and personal wellness.

Development of healthy lifestyle skills in university students has been carried out in conjunction with the content of theoretical, methodological and practical physical education course units, which provided an opportunity to establish the basic framework of the subject revealing the specific nature of healthy lifestyle skills building in students. Such arrangements facilitated consistency and concretized the area of activities for the teaching personnel to improve the students’ healthy lifestyle skills.

The educational experiment consisted of two parts: the first part was designed to improve the students’ subject-related competency on the basis of the acquired knowledge within the framework of the developed educational technology of healthy lifestyle skills building; the second part comprised implementation and assessment of the acquired knowledge, skills, abilities and its effectiveness pertaining to congruent behaviour in terms of healthy lifestyle. 

The main objective of the first part of the experiment involved raising the level of students’ competency in supporting healthy lifestyle. For this purpose, the university students have completed the complex theoretical and methodological instruction course on the basics of healthy living. The development of methodical and study materials and arrangement of content, structure and methods of study were carried out by the qualified specialists with extensive experience in university teaching.

The study material content corresponded to the program of the discipline “Physical Education” and was instrumental in the healthy lifestyle related knowledge acquisition by university students. The peculiar feature of the program was that it included certain lessons, the content of which specified essential particularities of healthy lifestyle skills development in students. The discussed practical examples and cases demonstrated actual real-life situations having a negative impact on health. The learning process of students was characterized by the environment and conditions favourable for physical self-improvement and health promotion behaviour. They had been receiving individual support in the form of a consultation on the issues concerning the pilot program, methodical and study guidelines and reading materials on the specifics of healthy lifestyle.

The sequence of the educational process within the developed program involved gradual acquisition of methodical and study materials on healthy lifestyle. The first stage of the program consisted of lecture course and aimed at the students’ mastering of theoretical information on the basics of healthy lifestyle. The further study of the program content was focused on developing the students’ skills of behavioral health promotion.

Implementation and assessment of effectiveness of the acquired knowledge, skills and abilities within the studied basics of healthy lifestyle constituted the second part of the educational experiment. Results of the first part of the experiment showed high educational effectiveness of the developed program providing the basics of healthy living. The results obtained in the course of the experiment indicate the significance and practicability of the presented educational technology of healthy lifestyle skills building and development (see Table 1 and Table 2).

Table 1. Results of assessment of the levels indicating the success in acquisition of knowledge, skills and abilities by research subjects

The authors of the modern pedagogical literature have not developed a consistent approach to building the students’ skills of health promotion behaviour. Some researchers do not include the stages, during which preconditions for health promotion behaviour are formed, into the process of the behaviour formation, while others consider these stages to be quite an essential element [1].

The conducted study reveals that the process of building the skills of behavioral health promotion is much more complex and intricate than it was characterized in the literature mentioned above.

According to the results of the conducted pilot research, three key stages should be pointed out within formation of the students’ skills of behavioral health promotion.

Table 2. Average results of mastering the pilot program for healthy lifestyle skills development by research subjects in study and reference groups

According to the results of the conducted pilot research, three key stages should be pointed out within formation of the students’ skills of behavioral health promotion.

At the first stage of the experiment, the students’ positive attitude towards self-directed physical activities and necessary prerequisites for healthy lifestyle are formed. These prerequisites include: an active interest in health promotion behaviour; genuine willingness to achieve good results in personal health improvement.

At the second stage, the university students develop the following essential qualities over the course of practical activities for health enhancement: thirst for healthy lifestyle related knowledge; capacity for projecting health improvement; ability to choose an optimal action plan, to mobilize the will and other means for health promotion behaviour.

At the third stage of the experiment, the university students adapt to health promotion behaviour and shift from critical attitude towards adoption of healthy lifestyle. As a result of health promotion behaviour, the students gain erudition, develop intellectual, gnostic and communication skills in organizing healthy lifestyle.

Conclusions. The conducted study enabled us to identify a number of regularities peculiar to the healthy lifestyle skills building process.

Firstly, broadening of knowledge about healthy living depends greatly on the focus of the students’ motivation development. The obtained study results indicate that the “high” level of competency in healthy lifestyle specifics is reached only by the students who have developed a strong motivation for health promotion behaviour. Such a motivation includes assurance about the necessity of health enhancement, tendency towards taking regular physical exercises, etc.

Secondly, the content and focus of the students’ activities aimed at health improvement depend on their proficiency in the basics of healthy lifestyle. The study results revealed that the process of health promotion behaviour usually starts with development of teaching techniques providing effective solutions to the issues of health enhancement and proceeds with the organizational and conceptual aspects of physical exercise usage.

References

1. Bolotin A.E. Faktory, opredelyayushchie vklyuchennost' studentov gornykh spetsial'nostey v fizkul'turno-sportivnuyu deyatel'nost' (Factors determining involvement of mining students in physical culture and sport activities) / A.E. Bolotin, Yu.V. Yakovlev // Teoriya i praktika fiz. kul'tury. – 2014. – № 6 – P. 58–59.
2. Bolotin A.E. Pedagogicheskaya tekhnologiya ispol'zovaniya sredstv fizicheskoy kul'tury dlya adaptatsii studentov k professional'noy deyatel'nosti (Educational technology of using physical culture tools to adjust students to vocational practice) / A.E. Bolotin, V.A. Shchegolev, V.V. Bakaev // Teoriya i praktika fiz. kul'tury. – 2014. – № 7 – P. 16–20.

Corresponding author: a_bolotin@inbox.ru

Abstract
Objective of the study was to justify the educational technology of healthy lifestyle skills building in ap-plication to university students and to provide experimental verification of its effectiveness.
According to the pilot research results, three key stages should be pointed out within the students’ healthy lifestyle skills building process.
The first stage of the experiment comprises intellectual development by broadening the students’ know-ledge concerning healthy lifestyle issues.
At the second stage the need and motivation are formed through creation of the students’ incentives to health promotion behaviour on the basis of the acquired subject-related knowledge.
The third stage sets values through transformation of knowledge about healthy lifestyle into clear under-standing of the necessity and significance of physical wellbeing and caring attitude to one’s own health.
Each of the listed stages is characterized by specific content.