Relationship between basic protective health behaviours and health related quality of life in Greek urban hospital employees.
OBJECTIVE
The study aimed to explore the association between the presence of several protective health behaviors and physical and mental wellbeing/functioning among healthy hospital employees in Greece.


METHODS
A randomly selected representative sample of 395 employees working in seven hospitals, both public and private, within the wider region of Athens participated in the study. Participants were assigned to the following professional categories: administrative, auxiliary and technical personnel, medical doctors and nurses. Four basic protective health behaviors were examined: following the Mediterranean diet, exercising, no smoking and moderate alcohol drinking. Employees' health related quality of life was assessed with the self-administered SF-36 generic health status measure.


RESULTS
Technical and administrative hospital personnel reported more healthy behaviors than medical and auxiliary personnel. There was an increased likelihood of scoring higher in almost all SF-36 Physical health subscales in the accumulation of the above four protective heath behaviors. In terms of mental health, even the presence of two or more protective health behaviors significantly increase the score on most SF-36 Mental health subscales.


CONCLUSIONS
Results indicate that the protective role of basic health behaviors extends beyond physical health to mental wellbeing.
Tountas
Yannis
Y
Center for Health Services Research, Medical School, University of Athens, Greece. chsr@med.uoa.gr
Manios
Yannis
Y
Dimitrakaki
Christine
C
Tzavara
Chara
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004032:Diet; D015444:Exercise; D006115:Greece; D015438:Health Behavior; D006786:Hospitals, Urban; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D010564:Personnel, Hospital; D011788:Quality of Life; D012907:Smoking; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires