%0 Journal Article
%T Self-rated health, work characteristics and health related behaviours among nurses in Greece: a cross sectional study
%A Noula A Pappas
%A Yannis Alamanos
%A Ioannis DK Dimoliatis
%J BMC Nursing
%D 2005
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1472-6955-4-8
%X To investigate the health profile of nurses working in hospitals in North West Greece and to examine the associations between self rated health (SRH) and health related behaviours and work characteristics in this group of hospital employees.A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to a random sample of 443 nurses working in all the hospitals in North West Greece. Regression analysis was used to examine the relationship of health related behaviours and work characteristics with self rated health among the nurses.A total of 353 responded to the questionnaire (response rate 80%) of which 311 (88%) were female and 42 (12%) male. The mean age (standard deviation) of the respondents was 36 years (5.6) and their mean years of working as nurses were 13.5 years (5.9). Almost half of the nurses' smoked, and about one third were overweight or obese. About 58% (206) of the nurses reported having poor health while 42% (147) reported having good health. Self-rated health was independently associated with gender, effort to avoid fatty foods and physical activity, according to multiple logistic regression analysis.The population studied presented a relatively poor health profile, and a high proportion of poor SRH. Though female gender and effort to avoid fatty foods were associated with poor SRH, and exercise and white meat consumption with good SRH, specific work characteristics were not associated with SRH.Self-rated health (SRH) has become one of the most common health indicators in Public Health research. Prospective and cross sectional studies have shown that a persons' own perception of their general health is a powerful predictor of subsequent mortality [1-3], incorporates psychological well being and social functioning [4-8], while cross sectional studies indicate that SRH is a significant predictor of health care utilization [9,10].Health behaviours such as smoking, alcohol consumption and leisure time exercise are associated with SRH [6,11,12]. When investigating
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6955/4/8