Cultural Differences in Nurses' Health Behaviors

Rubinstein, D., Gelbart, O., Shalish, Y., Raanan, O., Shatzman, C., & Siebzehner, M. I. (2009). Cultural Differences in Nurses' Health Behaviors. (Presentation) Fourth International Jerusalem Conference on Health Policy. Jerusalem, Israel

Background: While nurses are the largest occupational group of all health professionals, they come from diverse backgrounds. All nurses are expected to engage in healthy lifestyles in order to meet their obligations as role models

Study Questions: To assess and compare health behaviors between nurses from different countries

Methods: Two prior studies regarding nurses' health behaviors from Hong Kong (H.K.) and the United Kingdom (U.K.) were chosen from the literature and compared with a recent Israeli survey.  Nurses working in most clinical specialties were represented

Results: n  Smoking habits - H.K. (16%) and Israel (25%); higher percentage found in the U.K. (47%).n  Regular physical activity - U.K. (61%) and Israel (49%); lower percentages reported by the H.K. nurses (36%).  n  Dental hygiene - the percentage of nurses reporting similar compliance in H.K. (74%) and Israel (77%), while U.K. nurse reports were higher (81%) n  Cervical screening - U.K. (79%) and Israel (74%); there is a lower participation in cervical screening for the detection of cancer in H.K. (45%)

Conclusions: Despite the differences in data collection and cultural environment, the sample is representative of nurses in varying clinical specialties in these three countries.  Variations were found in the nurses' health behaviors. An international multi-centered study would contribute additional information on this subject

Health Policy Implications: Implementing free health promotion programs in the working environment will encourage nurses' participation thereby improving nurses' health behaviors