ORIGINAL PAPER
Health behaviors and their determinants in a group of professionally active women
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Centralny Instytut Ochrony Pracy – Państwowy Instytut Badawczy / Central Institute for Labour Protection – National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland
Online publication date: 2025-05-13
Corresponding author
Katarzyna Hildt-Ciupińska
Centralny Instytut Ochrony Pracy –
Państwowy Instytut Badawczy, ul. Czerniakowska 16, 00-701 Warszawa
HIGHLIGHTS
- Women’s care for their health is average.
- A predictor of women’s health care is a high sense of self-efficacy.
- Health awareness should be increased, especially among young women.
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ABSTRACT
Background: Lifestyle is considered one of the most important determinants of health, which most of us have an influence on and can modify. However, it is necessary to raise health awareness among people so that they know how to do it effectively. The purpose of the study was to assess women’s health behaviors and determine the factors that determine them in a group of professionally active women. Material and Methods: Anonymous questionnaire surveys were conducted among 927 women aged 18–65 using the computer-assisted web interview method, using a survey developed for the project, containing selected standard tools and a personal questionnaire covering personal data and questions regarding, among others, self-assessment of health status and care for it, understanding the concepts of “health” and “care for health,” sources of information about health. The Positive Health Behaviors Scale for women was used to assess health behaviors, with a set of questions regarding anti-health behaviors (including smoking, alcohol use), including a set of 34 statements grouped into 5 subscales: Nutrition, Body Care, Safety, Sleep, Rest and Mental health, and Physical Activity. The scale is used to assess individual health care, and its results are given in the form of points. Results: Studies conducted among 927 women showed that they assess their health well and
declare that they take care of it. The results regarding the undertaken pro-health behaviors do not confirm this, as evidenced by the relatively low average score obtained in the Positive Health Behaviors Scale (60.3 pts out of 102 possible to obtain). Self-efficacy turned out to be the strongest predictor of positive health behaviors among women, women’s care for their health increased with age, and was also higher among those women performing mental work compared to those performing physical work. Conclusions: Due to the discrepancies between women’s self-assessment of health care and their actual health-related behaviours, there is a need to continuously increase the awareness of women of all ages about the need for individual care for their health, taking into account both professional and non-professional factors. Med Pr Work Health Saf. 2025;76(2)