Nurses’ lifestyle behaviours, health priorities and barriers to living a healthy lifestyle: a qualitative descriptive study

dc.contributor.authorPhiri, Lindokuhle P
dc.contributor.authorDraper, Catherine E
dc.contributor.authorLambert, Estelle V
dc.contributor.authorKolbe-Alexander, Tracy
dc.date.accessioned2015-01-28T14:19:42Z
dc.date.available2015-01-28T14:19:42Z
dc.date.issued2014-11-28
dc.date.updated2015-01-15T17:57:38Z
dc.description.abstractBackground: Nurses have an increased risk for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), along with a high prevalence of obesity, poor eating habits and insufficient physical activity. The aim of this study was to determine the health concerns, health priorities and barriers to living a healthy lifestyle among nurses and hospital management staff from public hospitals in the Western Cape Metropole, South Africa. Methods: Participants were purposively sampled (n = 103), and included management personnel (n = 9), night shift (n = 57) and day-shift nurses (n = 36). Twelve focus groups (FGDs) were conducted with nursing staff to obtain insight into nurses’ health concerns, lifestyle behaviours and worksite health promotion programmes (WHPPs). Seven key informant interviews (KII) were conducted with management personnel, to gain their perspective on health promotion in the worksite. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data with the assistance of Atlas.ti Qualitative Data Analysis Software. Results: Night shift nurses frequently identified weight gain and living with NCDs such as hypertension as their main health concerns. Being overweight was perceived to have a negative impact on work performance. All nurses identified backache and exposure to tuberculosis (TB) as occupation-related health concerns, and both management and nurses frequently reported a stressful working environment. Nurses frequently mentioned lack of time to prepare healthy meals due to long working hours and being overtired from work. The hospital environment was perceived to have a negative influence on the nurses’ lifestyle behaviours, including food service that offered predominantly unhealthy foods. The most commonly delivered WHPPs included independent counselling services, an online employee wellness programme offered by the Department of Health and wellness days in which clinical measures, such as blood glucose were measured. Nurses identified a preference for WHPPs that provided access to fitness facilities or support groups. Conclusions: Public hospitals are a stressful work environment and shift work places an additional strain on nurses. The risk of NCDs and exposure to infectious disease remains a concern in this working population. Our findings highlight the need for WHPPs that support nurses in managing stress and transforming the work environment to facilitate healthy lifestyles.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationPhiri, L. P., Draper, C. E., Lambert, E. V., & Kolbe-Alexander, T. (2014). Nurses’ lifestyle behaviours, health priorities and barriers to living a healthy lifestyle: a qualitative descriptive study. <i>BMC Nursing</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12337en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationPhiri, Lindokuhle P, Catherine E Draper, Estelle V Lambert, and Tracy Kolbe-Alexander "Nurses’ lifestyle behaviours, health priorities and barriers to living a healthy lifestyle: a qualitative descriptive study." <i>BMC Nursing</i> (2014) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12337en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationPhiri et al. Nurses’ lifestyle behaviours, health priorities and barriers to living a healthy lifestyle: a qualitative descriptive study. BMC Nursing. 2014 13(1):38en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn1472-6955en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Phiri, Lindokuhle P AU - Draper, Catherine E AU - Lambert, Estelle V AU - Kolbe-Alexander, Tracy AB - Background: Nurses have an increased risk for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), along with a high prevalence of obesity, poor eating habits and insufficient physical activity. The aim of this study was to determine the health concerns, health priorities and barriers to living a healthy lifestyle among nurses and hospital management staff from public hospitals in the Western Cape Metropole, South Africa. Methods: Participants were purposively sampled (n = 103), and included management personnel (n = 9), night shift (n = 57) and day-shift nurses (n = 36). Twelve focus groups (FGDs) were conducted with nursing staff to obtain insight into nurses’ health concerns, lifestyle behaviours and worksite health promotion programmes (WHPPs). Seven key informant interviews (KII) were conducted with management personnel, to gain their perspective on health promotion in the worksite. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data with the assistance of Atlas.ti Qualitative Data Analysis Software. Results: Night shift nurses frequently identified weight gain and living with NCDs such as hypertension as their main health concerns. Being overweight was perceived to have a negative impact on work performance. All nurses identified backache and exposure to tuberculosis (TB) as occupation-related health concerns, and both management and nurses frequently reported a stressful working environment. Nurses frequently mentioned lack of time to prepare healthy meals due to long working hours and being overtired from work. The hospital environment was perceived to have a negative influence on the nurses’ lifestyle behaviours, including food service that offered predominantly unhealthy foods. The most commonly delivered WHPPs included independent counselling services, an online employee wellness programme offered by the Department of Health and wellness days in which clinical measures, such as blood glucose were measured. Nurses identified a preference for WHPPs that provided access to fitness facilities or support groups. Conclusions: Public hospitals are a stressful work environment and shift work places an additional strain on nurses. The risk of NCDs and exposure to infectious disease remains a concern in this working population. Our findings highlight the need for WHPPs that support nurses in managing stress and transforming the work environment to facilitate healthy lifestyles. DA - 2014-11-28 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town J1 - BMC Nursing LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2014 SM - 1472-6955 T1 - Nurses’ lifestyle behaviours, health priorities and barriers to living a healthy lifestyle: a qualitative descriptive study TI - Nurses’ lifestyle behaviours, health priorities and barriers to living a healthy lifestyle: a qualitative descriptive study UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12337 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/12337
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationPhiri LP, Draper CE, Lambert EV, Kolbe-Alexander T. Nurses’ lifestyle behaviours, health priorities and barriers to living a healthy lifestyle: a qualitative descriptive study. BMC Nursing. 2014; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12337.en_ZA
dc.languageengen_ZA
dc.language.rfc3066en
dc.publisherBioMed Centralen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentMRC/UCT RU for Exercise and Sport Medicineen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Health Sciencesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)*
dc.rights.holderPhiri et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en_ZA
dc.sourceBMC Nursingen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6955
dc.subject.otherNurses’ healthen_ZA
dc.subject.otherLifestyle behavioursen_ZA
dc.subject.otherPerceptionsen_ZA
dc.subject.otherShift workersen_ZA
dc.titleNurses’ lifestyle behaviours, health priorities and barriers to living a healthy lifestyle: a qualitative descriptive studyen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetype
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
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