Assessment of adoption of safe health practices as part of lifestyle behavior among tertiary institution workers in Nigeria

Abstract

The rising number of deaths attributable to non-communicable diseases globally, has resulted in increased advocacy on health education as regards factors related to healthy living which has a lot to do with lifestyle behavior among the populace. The focus of this study therefore was to assess the level of knowledge of staff of a tertiary educational institution in terms of adoption of safe health practices. A total of 500 structured questionnaires on health and wellness were distributed out of which 472 properly filled were retrieved. Descriptive statistics of frequency and percentages were obtained and inferential statistics of chi square was employed to test strength of relationship between parameters. Alpha level was set at 0.005. The ages of the respondents ranged between 23 and 64years. 216 (45.8%) were males and 256 (54.2%) were females. The results of the study showed that respondents’ general knowledge on safe health practices was moderately good, which is indicative of positive lifestyle. However, there was poor knowledge on usage of first aid or emergency care maneuvers and practice of environmental protection with only 16.5% and 32.2% of the respondents respectively having knowledge on these aspects. Meanwhile, respondents’ knowledge and practices on safe health practices which involve being informed consumers (80.9%), undergoing regular medical checkups (81.8%), seeking of medical advice from qualified health professionals and compliance with medical advice (81.8%) including oral hygiene is very high and indicative of positive lifestyle. Age and gender of respondents were found to be positively related to their lifestyle behaviors (p=0.001) while marital status, educational attainments, staff status (being academic or nonacademic staff) and religion did not have significant relationship with lifestyle behaviors of the respondents. The findings from this study highlight the need for more health education on positive lifestyle habits among the respondents which will foster a healthier lifestyle and make room for better health, longevity and optimal quality of life.

Keywords: Lifestyle behavior, knowledge, tertiary institution, workers.