A comparative study of health-promoting lifestyles in agricultural and non-agricultural workers in Japan

Lifestyle parameters of Japanese agricultural and non-agricultural workers aged 60 years or older and less than 60 years: A cross-sectional observational study

OBJECTIVES

Improving the lifestyle of occupational workers is essential for extending healthy life expectancy. We investigated various lifestyle-related items in a rural Japanese population and compared them between agricultural and non-agricultural workers.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted as a part of the "Iwaki Health Promotion Project." Lifestyle-related items such as sleep, work hours, nutrition, health-related quality of life, and proportion of time spent performing each daily activity were compared between agricultural and non-agricultural workers in the ≥60 years (n = 251) and <60 years (n = 560) age groups.

RESULTS

Agricultural workers had significantly lower Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index total scores than non-agricultural workers in the <60 years group. The proportion of participants with more than 5 weekly working days was high among agricultural workers in both groups. Additionally, the proportion of people who worked more than 8 h per day was high among agricultural workers in both age groups. Energy intake per day was high among agricultural workers in the <60 years group. In both age groups, agricultural workers slept and woke up approximately 40 min earlier than did non-agricultural workers.

CONCLUSIONS

Agricultural workers have better sleep habits but work longer than non-agricultural workers, with some differences in energy intake and proportion of time spent on each daily activity. These differences should be considered when planning lifestyle intervention programs for agricultural workers.

Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice about biomedical waste management among healthcare staff of Fasa educational hospitals in COVID-19 pandemic

An efficient management of biomedical waste (BMW) is essential to maintaining health and preventing environmental threats during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the present research aimed to explore the knowledge, attitude, and practice about BMW among the healthcare staff of Fasa educational hospitals. The present cross-sectional study used an online questionnaire survey to collect data from 251 employees in Valiasr and Shariati hospitals in 2021. T-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to test the relationships between and among the variables. Demographic findings showed that the men and women participated to an almost equal rate. Most participants were young and had less than 5 years' work experience. Their mean scores of knowledge, attitude, and practice were 38.8±6.1, 83.0±8.8, and 47.5±14.5, respectively. These values point to a satisfactory level of each variable in relation to BMW management. Pearson's correlation coefficient test showed a strong positive association between knowledge and practice (r = 0.725). The T-test results showed a statistically significant relationship among knowledge, attitude, and practice across demographic variables. These included gender, ward (COVID vs. Non-COVID), and workplace (p < 0.05). ANOVA results showed statistically significant divergences in knowledge, attitude, and practice across the demographic variables, including education, position, and employment type (p < 0.05). Considering the current deficiencies among employees in terms of BMW acronyms, lack of waste training courses, and inappropriate waste plans for COVID-19 waste management, BMW training courses should be held continuously and regularly, and the content of the programs should be updated according to the emergencies.

Health-promoting lifestyles of Japanese expatriates residing in the Philippines and Thailand

Background:

The number of Japanese expatriates has increased, many of whom undertake lifestyle changes to improve their health.

Purpose:

We aim to clarify the health-promoting lifestyles of middle and older age Japanese expatriates.

Methods:

This is a cross-sectional study. Participants comprised 95 long-term Japanese expatriates residing in popular destinations: the Philippines and Thailand. Health behavior was evaluated using a Japanese version of Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II and participants were compared with a group living in Japan. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to examine the factors that correlate with the score of physical activity, a Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II subscale.

Results:

The expatriates had significantly higher scores of physical activity and nutrition than the group living in Japan. Factors positively related to physical activity were communicative literacy, information on health management before leaving Japan, no history of hypertension, and sufficient English proficiency.

Conclusion:

The Japanese expatriates we studied were physically active and were careful about nutrition. To further increase their physical activity, better access to health information and enhancement of communicative literacy and of English proficiency are desired.

The association between health literacy and psychosomatic symptoms of adolescents in China: a cross-sectional study

Background

Lower health literacy (HL) has been known to be involved in a range of common mental and physical disorders among adolescent students. Ample studies indicated low HL is associated with a series of chronic diseases even psychological diseases, nevertheless, little is known about this relationship among adolescents. In this context, the study aimed to examine associations between psychosomatic symptoms (physical and psychological symptoms) and HL in junior and senior high school students in China, and to provide guidance for improving the physical and mental health in Chinese adolescents.

Methods

A total of 22,628 junior and high school students in China were enrolled in this study. HL and psychosomatic symptoms were measured by self-report validated questionnaires. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations between six sub-scales of HL and physical / psychological symptoms.

Results

Multiple linear regression analysis demonstrated that the sub-scales of HL showed a significantly negative association with physical symptoms and psychological symptoms (P <  0.05 for each). Physical symptoms was most strongly associated with IR (β = − 0.134), followed by SM (β = − 0.093), DB (β = − 0.059), SA (β = − 0.058) and PA (β = − 0.054). No statistically significant difference was found between HA and physical symptoms (P > 0.05). Meanwhile, psychological symptoms were most strongly associated with IR (β = − 0.160), followed by SA (β = − 0.129), SM (β = − 0.069), DB (β = − 0.031), HA (β = − 0.026) and PA (β = − 0.021).

Conclusion

These results indicated the importance of identifying the association of HL with physical and psychological symptoms, and provided the evidence that lower HL may serve as a critical and independent risk factor for poor health outcomes. Meanwhile, to maintain students’ desirable healthy status public health efforts for enhancing their HL level are urgently needed in adolescents.

Determining health-promoting behavior in smokers preparing to quit: a holistic and personalized approach

Background

Smoking cessation practices enable health professionals to identify lifestyle of their patients as an initial step to achieve predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine (PPPM). In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between the smoking habit and health-promoting behavior of patients who planned to quit smoking.

Methods

In this descriptive study, Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II) was implemented to current smokers admitted to smoking cessation outpatient clinics of two tertiary hospitals. Patients without any comorbidities were included. Sociodemographic variables, Fagerström dependency test, and smoking habit were recorded. Descriptive and analytical statistical evaluations were performed.

Results

A total of 200 patients, 134 men (67%) and 66 women (33%) with a mean age of 34.49 ± 8.82, were included to the study. Among them, 90 (45%) were white collar, and 110 (55%) were blue-collar workers. Patients with BMI ≥ 25 were 126 (63%); Fagerström test score median was 7. Packages per year, dependency scores, the age the patients started smoking, and cigarettes smoked per day inversely correlated with health-promoting behavior. Our patients had high scores in spiritual growth and interpersonal relationships and had low scores in physical activity and stress management. Health-promoting behavior, health responsibility, self-actualization, and interpersonal relationships were less favorable in blue-collar workers than white-collar workers.

Conclusions

Smoking behavior affects especially physical activity and stress management in the study population preparing for smoking cessation. Health-promoting activities in smokers are influenced by occupation as well as dependency levels and smoking habits. Differences exist among white and blue-collar workers in health-promoting behavior. Defining and screening multiple health risk behavior in smokers empower predictive measures and targeted preventive medicine, such as maintaining healthy nutrition and leaving sedentary lifestyle along with efforts to quit smoking. Awareness about health-promoting behavior and thus identifying smokers who need lifestyle interventions can provide and attenuate a holistic and personalized approach in preventive medicine.

Assessment of health-promoting lifestyle behaviors of adults living in the semi-rural area

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the present study was to determine the level of healthy lifestyle behaviors and related factors in the individuals who applied to the primary health-care center.

METHODS

The study is a cross-sectional study of adults aged 18 years and over who applied to the primary health-care center. The sample size of the study was calculated as 992 people and 995 participants were accessible. The health-promoting behaviors of the individuals were assessed by the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II). In the analysis of the data, Mann-Whitney U-test, Kruskal-Wallis tests, and multiple linear regression analysis were used to determine effective variables on scale score.

RESULTS

The mean age of the participants was 43.8±17.1. Of the total participants, 45.7% (n=455) of them were female. The median score obtained from the HPLP-II was 132. Health responsibility, nutrition, and interpersonal relations subscale scores of male were lower than female patients, while physical activity subscale scores were higher in male patients. In participants under the age of 48 years in the study, health responsibility, nutrition, interpersonal relations, and stress management subscale scores were higher. The scores of the married participants were higher than the areas out of the stress management subdimension. Stress management subscale scores were higher in individuals with primary and lower education levels in terms of health care, nutrition, and interpersonal relations. Those who had good family income status and health perception scores also received higher scores in terms of all subscale scores.

CONCLUSION

Gender, age group, marital status, education level, income level, physician-diagnosed chronic disease history, and perceived health status were found to be related to health-promoting behaviors. Educational programs should be prepared in these issues by determining the issues that individuals are lacking in protecting and developing their health and social needs should be taken into consideration when these programs are being prepared.

Health-promoting Lifestyle, Illness Control Beliefs and Well-being of the Obese Diabetic Women

The study examines the role of health-promoting lifestyle and illness control beliefs in well-being of obese diabetic women. Measures of illness control belief, health-promoting lifestyle and obesity-related well-being were given to 100 obese diabetic women selected from outdoors of hospitals in Varanasi. Analysis revealed patients’ stronger belief in ‘doctor-control’ and ‘supernatural-control’ than ‘self-control’ of the disease. Nutrition, interpersonal relations, physical activity and stress management were given more importance in health promotion than spiritual growth-related practices. Belief in ‘self-control’ and ‘doctor-control’ of disease was negatively correlated with ‘psychosocial discomfort’, ‘physical discomfort’ and ‘psychosocial impact’ aspects of obesity, whereas ‘supernatural-control’ showed positive relationship with all aspects. All components of ‘health-promoting lifestyle’ were negatively correlated with ‘physical discomfort’, ‘psychosocial discomfort’ and ‘psychosocial impact’ aspects of obesity. Multiple regression analysis brought out ‘self-control’, ‘supernatural-control’, ‘health responsibility’, ‘physical activity’ and ‘stress management’ as significant predictors of ‘well-being’ of the obese diabetic women.

Health-Promoting Lifestyles Among Health Care Workers in a Postdisaster Area: A Cross-sectional Study

OBJECTIVE

Health care workers performing rescue tasks in large-scale disaster areas are usually challenged in terms of physical and mental endurance, which can affect their lifestyles. Nevertheless, data on whether health care workers tend to adopt healthy lifestyles after disasters are limited. This paper compares the adoption of healthy lifestyle behaviors among health care workers with that among non-health care workers in a postdisaster area.

METHODS

This cross-sectional observational study was conducted in August 2016. The Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II questionnaire was used to interview 261 health care workers and 848 non-health care workers.

RESULTS

Results of the multivariable linear models showed that health care workers had lower physical activity levels (ß=-1.363, P&lt;.0001), worse stress management (ß=-1.282, P&lt;.0001), slower spiritual growth (ß=-1.228, P=.002), and poorer interpersonal relationships (ß=-0.814, P=.019) than non-health care workers. However, no significant differences were found in either nutrition (ß=-0.362, P=.319) or health responsibility (ß=-0.421, P=.283).

CONCLUSIONS

Health care workers had less healthy lifestyle behaviors, including physical activity, stress management, spiritual growth, and interpersonal relationships. Further studies are needed to develop health-improving interventions for health care workers in postdisaster areas. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;13:230-235).

Healthy lifestyle behavior of employees in small and medium-sized enterprises in Aydin, Turkey

OBJECTIVE

To determine healthy lifestyle behavior and affecting risk factors in workers at small and medium-sized enterprises from four different sectors in Aydin, Turkey.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted at four different small and medium-sized enterprises in Aydin, Turkey and 264 employees participated in the study. A questionnaire was used for data collection. It consisted of questions about socio-demographic features (age, gender, marital status, education, perceived income, occupation and having children), health status, and medical history, medication use, having occupational accidents and occupational health and safety. Healthy Lifestyle Behavior Scale, which was developed by Walker et al. in 1996, was used to evaluate healthy lifestyle behaviors of the workers.

RESULTS

The mean score for Healthy Lifestyle Behavior Scale was 135.46±22.49. Gender, marital status, perceived income, sector of workplace, title, presence of a chronic disease, finding oneself healthy in the previous year and having an occupational accident in the previous year did not significantly affect any subscales of Healthy Lifestyle Behavior Scale. The workers aged over 50 years had significantly higher scores for health responsibility than those aged 20-29 years (p<0.05). The workers living in a village got significantly higher scores for Healthy Lifestyle Behavior Scale and its subscales health responsibility, physical activity, nutrition and spiritual development than those living in a city (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION

Although workers have good spiritual development, they may not adopt physical activity as a healthy lifestyle and that workers benefiting from occupational health and safety services can display healthy lifestyle behavior.

Evidence on health-promoting lifestyle practices and information and communication technologies: scoping review protocol

INTRODUCTION

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) play a key role in improving health and maintaining health promoting behaviours. ICTs are therefore one potential solution for promoting healthy lifestyles. In addition, they can assist in the reduction and control of the menace of both communicable and non-communicable diseases. This study will map evidence of interventions that demonstrate the effect of ICTs on health-promoting lifestyle practices that can prevent and control diseases. It is anticipated that this study will help identify areas where there is need for primary research.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

The following electronic databases will be searched: PsycArticle (EBSCO), PsycINFO (EBSCO), Science direct, PubMed, Medline (EBSCO) and Google Scholar. The study will be conducted in two stages: the first stage will map out the studies descriptively while the second stage will map the additional inclusion criteria of quality assessment. Two independent reviewers will undertake the data extraction. Relevant outcomes of the studies will be analysed thematically using NVIvo computer software. The authors will code all evidence independently. Thereafter the authors will critically cross-examine the relationship of the research questions to the emerging themes from the selected articles. The authors hope to find a large number of studies on health-promoting lifestyles that encompass six-subscales of health-promoting activities (nutrition, stress management, interpersonal relation, self-actualisation, health responsibility, physical activity) and ICT.

DISSEMINATION

This study will be presented in conferences related to health promotion and health-promoting lifestyles. It will also be disseminated in print and electronically.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

CRD42016042568.

The influence of healthcare workers' occupation on Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile

To compare the adoption of healthy lifestyle behaviors, including: spiritual growth, nutrition, physical activity, interpersonal relations, health responsibility, and stress management, of healthcare workers with workers of other professions. Cross-sectional observational study among a convenience sample of 285 healthcare workers and 137 of other professions. The Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II (HPLP-II), a 52-item measure regarding the six components of healthy lifestyle. Demographic characteristics, education, income, work duration and self-rated health were also collected. Multivariable linear models were specified for each of the components of healthy lifestyle. Both groups were comparable in their age, family status, income and self-rated health. Results of multivariable linear models revealed that healthcare workers adopt better nutrition (β=0.228, p<0.001), more physical activity (β=0.133, p=0.049), and greater health responsibility (β=0.131, p=0.016), compared to other professions. Such differences were not found with regard to spiritual growth (β=0.097, p=0.121), interpersonal relations (β=0.039, p=0.444), or stress management (β=0.053, p=0.299). Healthcare workers adopt better healthy lifestyle only in components that may be perceived to have direct influence on health outcomes, namely nutrition, physical activity, and health responsibility. Further research that will explore the reasons for the observed differences may enable designing health-improving interventions.

A population-based study of health-promoting behaviors and their predictors in Iranian women of reproductive age

Health-promoting behaviors have been recognized as major factors for maintenance and improvement of health. The objective of this study was to determine the status of health-promoting behaviors and their predicting factors in Iranian women of reproductive age. This was a population-based cross-sectional study in which 1359 Iranian women of reproductive age were selected by proportional random multistage cluster sampling in Tehran. Questionnaires including sociodemographic characteristics, Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II (HPLP-II) and Personal Resource Questionnaire 85-Part 2 (PRQ85-Part 2) were completed by interview. The association between the dependent variables (HPLP-II and subscales) and the independent variables (social support and sociodemographic characteristics) was analyzed using the multivariable linear regression model. Among the six dimensions of health-promoting behaviors, women scored highest in interpersonal relations (3.08 ± 0.51) and lowest in physical activity (2.04 ± 0.64). The Pearson test indicated perceived social support to be significantly correlated with HPLP-II (r = 0.53; p < 0.001) and all its subscales (r = 0.12-0.60; p < 0.001). Multivariable regression analysis indicated social support to be a predictor of HPLP-II and all its subscales, except for physical activity. Social support and sociodemographic characteristics accounted for 29.8% of the variance in the HPLP-II score and 6.9-39.3 in the six subscales. The findings of the present study confirm the importance of social support and modifiable variables (sociodemographic) in the occurrence of health-promoting behaviors in women and accredit the theoretical relationships among the concepts of the health-promotion model.

The influence of health-promoting lifestyles on the quality of life of retired workers in a medium-sized city of Northeastern China

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to clarify the actual state of retired workers' lifestyles and quality of life (QOL) in a medium-sized city of Northeastern China and to assess the relationship between these according to differences between gender groups.

METHODS

The Chinese version of the Health Promotion Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II), the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), and demographic variables were used to measure 343 (aged 50-79 years) retired workers' lifestyles and QOL. The results were analyzed using the t test, one-way analysis of variance, correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression analysis.

RESULTS

Among the six lifestyle subscales of HPLP-II, the highest mean score was for Interpersonal Relations (IR) and the lowest was for Health Responsibility (HR), which has not been reported previously. The youngest group (50-60 years) had higher scores for lifestyles and QOL than the other age groups. When the results were analyzed based on financial situation, the lowest income group (below ¥2000) had the poorest scores. Analysis according to gender group revealed different tendencies for the scores of lifestyle and QOL, as well as in the multiple regression analysis between variables.

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that an effective approach to maintain a desirable lifestyle and QOL for retired workers at the regional level would be to introduce daily activities to improve HR and to maintain and enhance social support for the low-income populations. Further research is needed to understand the complex causal pathways between regional health and welfare factors, health behavior, and QOL.

Healthy life-style promoting behaviour in Turkish women aged 18-64

AIM

In this study we aimed to investigate the healthy life-style behaviour of Turkish women and establish influencing features.

METHODS

This descriptive study performed by a questionnaire method was conducted in a primary health care centre, in an urban region in Kayseri, Turkey. Every midwife region belonging to the health care centre was accepted as a cluster, and a sample of 450 women between ages 18-64, was gathered from 9 midwife regions. The Health Promotion Life-style Profile (HPLP) was applied to evaluated the healthy life- style behaviour of 421 women that could be reached. T test, Tukey HSD with ANOVA, and chi square tests were used for analysis.

RESULTS

The mean total HPLP was 126.8 ± 19.2 (interpersonal support subscale, 74.3 ± 14.1; nutrition subscale, 73.6 ± 12.6; self-actualisation subscale, 70.6 ± 11.9; stress management subscale, 63.4 ± 13.0; health responsibility subscale, 61.2 ± 13.2; and exercise subscale, 47.1 ± 15.0). There was no statistically significant variation when evaluated for age, marital state, family type, economic status, and perception of self-health, smoking, and BMI. HPLP was high in people with an education of primary school and lower in university graduates, in people who lived mostly in the city centre and in individuals with chronic diseases. In conclusion, it was established that the health promoting behaviour in Turkish women is, in general, at a medium level, and women should be enlightened in order to develop and increase the habit of health preservation and promotion.

Relationship between lifestyle and lifestyle-related factors in a rural-urban population of Japan

OBJECTIVE

To clarify the actual state of residents' lifestyle in a mixed rural-urban area in Japan, and to investigate the relationship between residents' lifestyle and lifestyle-related factors.

METHODS

The Japanese version of Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II (HPLP-II), lifestyle-related factors developed through group work with residents of Town A, and demographic variables were used to evaluate 1176 community residents' lifestyles and associated factors.

RESULTS

Factor analysis revealed that there were 4 factors related to healthy lifestyle. Nonparametric analysis revealed that female and elderly groups showed higher overall HPLP-II score than male and young groups. A significant correlation coefficient was seen between scores of overall HPLP-II and lifestyle-related factors (r = 0.611, p < 0.001). Multiple linear regression analysis demonstrated that HPLP-II was significantly associated with each lifestyle-related factor, showing a similar order in both gender and age groups. Finally, covariance structure analysis demonstrated that the score of health cognition and regional factors increased the score of HPLP-II, which then increased the score of self-rated health.

CONCLUSIONS

The present research clarified the actual state of residents' lifestyles by age and gender in a mixed rural-urban area in Japan, demonstrating a vector model from health cognition and regional factors to self-rated health, via residents' lifestyle.