Perceived occupational physical fitness priorities and a preliminary conceptual framework for information technology students at selected vocational colleges in Shanxi Province, China: An exploratory cross-sectional mixed-methods study

Students majoring in information technology are frequently exposed to prolonged sitting, continuous screen use, sustained static postures, repetitive fine motor operations, and high cognitive load during their academic training and future work. These conditions may increase the risk of visual fatigue, neck and lower-back discomfort, physical fatigue, and psychological stress. This study adopted an exploratory cross-sectional mixed-methods design, using questionnaire surveys as the primary method and semi-structured interviews as a supplementary method. Participants included information technology students from selected vocational colleges, teachers whose teaching or research activities were related to vocational education or information technology student training, and personnel from information technology-related enterprises in Shanxi Province, China. The final analytical sample comprised 1,924 questionnaires: 1,863 from students, 37 from teachers, and 24 from enterprise personnel. The results showed that 68.71% of students selected “Frequently” or “Occasionally” when asked about physical discomfort following professional practical operations such as prolonged computer use or equipment debugging. The most frequently selected physical-discomfort categories included dry eyes or blurred vision, cervical or lumbar soreness, physical fatigue, and insufficient endurance. Weekly exercise duration was most commonly reported as 1–3 h/week (52.01%), whereas 14.76% of students selected “Almost no exercise.” Qualitative interviews with students and teachers further suggested limited incorporation of occupation-specific training—such as visual relaxation and protection, musculoskeletal relaxation, postural adjustment, and sedentary behavior interruption—into current educational practice. The teacher sample indicated perceived constraints related to limited access to job-demand information, the availability of occupation-specific training methods and teaching resources, and student engagement. The enterprise sample suggested that some enterprise personnel recognized the potential role of occupational physical fitness in job adaptation and work efficiency; however, their actual involvement in curriculum development and the provision of job-related standards remained limited. Based on literature analysis, expert content validity evaluation, questionnaire survey data, and interview data, this study proposed a preliminary conceptual framework for occupational physical fitness in information technology programs, consisting of general physical fitness, occupation-specific physical fitness, and psychological fitness. These findings provide preliminary contextual evidence that occupation-related curriculum content and school–enterprise collaboration may warrant further investigation in vocational-education contexts similar to those examined in this study. Because this study used convenience sampling, included relatively small teacher and enterprise samples, and has not yet verified the proposed framework through structural validity testing or objective measurements, the framework requires further examination in larger and more balanced samples.