Cik Norfidah Binti Mohamad, RN

Psychological Factors Affecting Eating Habits Among Nurses in General Hospitals

Tags: eating habits general hospital nurses psychological factors psychology

Obesity and overweight are more frequent in workers working in shift and psychological distress increased among working women in Malaysia. A supportive manager and a flexible working time are linked with a decrease of the conflicts between family and work. The purpose of the research was to investigate the patterns of eating habit and its relationship factors, with focus on psychological factor among nurses. A study of 100 nurses was conducted in medical-surgical wards of a public hospital. Data was collected using a cross sectional study using a convenience sampling (non probability). A self-administered questionnaire on eating habits was used, and analyzed using SPSS (version 21). Results: A majority of (89%) participants was from a female group while a number of male participants are only (11%). Majority (86%) responded they ate because of feeling happy followed by eating because of feeling lonely (80%) and most of them did not perceived that they have a healthy eating habits (53%). Conclusions: The findings indicated that employers need to identify physical workload that is acceptable to avoid risks of unhealthy eating habits and monitor the availability of healthy food in the worksite. Keywords: Eating habits,Psychological Factors, working in shifts.