Assessment of Nurse's Health Promotion of Their Lifestyles at Al-Kut City Hospitals, Iraq

Abstract

Context: The importance of lifestyle is mainly due to its effect on the quality of life and disease prevention. Poor lifestyle choices lead to chronic diseases or even death. It increases healthcare costs in a time of economic downsizing. Health care practitioners, particularly nurses, are viewed as a role model in their health-promoting lifestyle behaviors.
Aim: The current research aimed to assess the health-promotion lifestyles among nurses at Al-Kut City Hospitals, Iraq. The study was designed to provide a descriptive summary of nurses' health promotion lifestyle scores in each health promotion lifestyle dimension and find the association between sociodemographic characteristics and nurse's health promotion lifestyle dimensions.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was carried out in order to achieve the aim of the study by using a self-administered health promotion assessment questionnaire in hospitals in Al-Kut City (Al-Zahra'a Teaching Hospital, Al-Karama Teaching Hospital, Al- Kut for Maternity and Children Hospital) from August 26, 2019, to April 28, 2020. A stratified random sample of 300 nurses who work at hospitals in Al-Kut City was recruited to achieve this study's aim. The Center Ethical Committee approved the study.

Results: In respect of nutrition, 67.7% of the nurses always eat three regular meals daily, while 51% were sometimes taking foods to contain the five essential ingredients in each meal. About the social support domain, 70.7% of the studied nurses always express care and attention to others, while 45.7% sometimes enjoy contact with relatives. Concerning the health responsibility domain, 76% always wash their hands before meals, while 45.7% sometimes notice the appearance of any sign in their body at least monthly. Regarding life appreciation, 79.3% always make an effort to feel good about themselves, while 40.3% sometimes feel interesting and challenged every day. Regarding exercise behaviors, only 43% of the nurses always stand and sit straight to do not affect the vertebrae, 43% sometimes exercise 30 minutes a day and three times a week, while 25% never do exercise 30 minutes a day and three times a week. Finally, the daily stress management behaviors revealed that 52.7% always spend some time each day relaxing muscles, while 55.8% of them sometimes determine the source of stress.

Conclusion: The study concludes that the studied nurses were failed in three health promotion lifestyle domains, namely nutritional behaviors, social support, and daily stress management behaviors. In contrast, they pass in the other three health responsibility domains, life appreciation. The study also indicates a significant association between gender, social support, and life appreciation, while a highly significant association exists between gender and health responsibility. The study recommends behavioral support changes intended to promote healthy lifestyles among nurses.