Can the Local Health Unit staff serve as role model for positive health behaviours? Results from an observational...

Lifestyles as well as health behaviors and attitudes are a matter of personal health and a public health concern for healthcare providers. The aims of the study were to examine lifestyles and health behaviors - i.e., smoking habit, diet, predisposition to undergo for cancer screening tests among the staff of a Local Health Unit in Rome and the prevalence of some of the major preventable chronic degenerative pathologies associated to lifestyles.

The survey was carried out through the administration of a questionnaire. Descriptive and univariate analyses were performed and binary logistic regression models were used to identify possible associations with an unhealthy lifestyles. Hosmer-Lemeshow test was performed. The level of significance was set at p ≤ 0.05.

355 employees entered the study (87,8%); 43.4% resulted in overweight/obesity and 36.6% is a current smoker. Those with a high degree of studies had an higher odds to be smokers (for low education OR=0.76; 95% CI:0,61-0.94) and healthcare workers were less likely to follow an unhealthy diet than administrative staff (OR=0.52; 95% CI: 0.29-0.91).

Despite the Local Health Unit employees have, in the specific context of their workplace, an important role in promoting healthy lifestyles, in our survey they show unhealthy habits and lifestyles.