SELECTED HEALTH BEHAVIOURS OF NURSES

Currently, the role of nurses in healthcare is growing. Each day more demanding and responsible, practical tasks are put in front of them. They also have a leading role in the field of health promotion and professional knowledge about a healthy lifestyle. Due to their medical knowledge, they are expected to have a conscious, rational and critical attitude towards shaping and observing prohealth behaviours in their lives. The aim of this study is to compare the selected health behaviours of nurses. The research included 100 nurses and 100 women doing other professions. The respondents were tested with the matched pair-selection method, taking into consideration two variables: place of residence and age. The survey questionnaire was used. The nurses show similarities with respect to some health behaviours and show significant differences in the consumption of alcoholic beverages (the amount and kind) or regularity of preventive checks in comparison to others. The profession of nurses due to its’ specificity and requirement of constant care for ill person results in a very high level of stress. Nurses feel permanent pressure, which entails permission to use stimulants such as coffee, alcohol and to a lesser extent smoking. Their role as promoters of a healthy lifestyle means that they try to take care of health through control or preventive examinations.


INTRODUCTION
which is always respected and appreciated. This is proven by the results of research carried out over the years [1,2]. However, in the situation of assessing fairness and professional integrity, the nursing profession was rated the highest and ranked first [3]. The role of nurses in healthcare is growing. Each day more demanding and responsible practical tasks are put in front of them. They also have a leading role in the field of health promotion and professional knowledge about a healthy lifestyle [4]. Because of their medical knowledge, they are expected to have a conscious, rational and critical attitude towards shaping and observing pro-health behaviours in their lives. However, possessing the appropriate theoretical knowledge does not necessarily result in its use in life, even though health's significance is particularly valued by nurses [5,6]. Nevertheless, wanting to be reliable and convincing for the patient, they must believe in the validity of the promoted content, apply it in practice and to be a role model for the patient. As the research shows, nurses who are actively exercising, non-smoking or those who follow a balanced diet are more likely to promote a healthy lifestyle than those who do not observe pro-health recommendations [7,8,9]. On the other hand, patients are more likely to follow the recommendations for a correct diet or physical exercise and show greater confidence in nurses who have appropriate body mass [10]. There are many studies conducted in various parts of the world, which emphasize the unsatisfactory level of health behaviours in the lives of nurses [11,12,13], in such situation, they cannot be an authority for patients whom they nurse and educate. The results, however, are not unambiguous. Some highlight that young people in particular do not pursue pro-health in their lives, although during their education they received a greater range of current information in this field than their older colleagues [11,12].
In health psychology, health behaviours are divided into habitual and purposeful. Habitual behaviours are related to the hygiene of everyday life, eating habits, physical activity and rest. They result from socialization and cultural influences.
On the other hand, purposeful behaviours are initiated in specific situations related to promotional and preventive activities and appear in situations of life and development changes [14]. This article will show selected health behaviours of nurses, in comparison to their peers who are engaged in professions that are not related to health care.

AIM
The aim of this article is to characterise selected health behaviours of professionally active nurses.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
In order to answer the basic research questions, 100 nurses and 100 women from the control group belonging to different professional groups were examined. The demographic variables were controlled by matching persons using the pair-selection method, taking into consideration two variables: place of residence (village, sumed that controlling these two variables will eliminate some of the important factors that affect the occurrence of certain nurses' behaviour compared to other professional groups. The nurse research group was represented by women aged between 23 and 60. The average age was M = 39, 5. They were women who mostly lived in cities -60% and 40% of women came from the village.
The control group consisting of women working in other professions was analogous in terms of these two variables.
Education in both groups was represented in three categories: secondary vocational (28%nurses and 34% -control group), higher vocational at bachelor level (34% -nurses and 26% -control group) and master's degree (38% -nurses and 40% -control group). The examined women had a similar marital status; married women were rep-resented by 70% of female nurses and 63% of women from the control group, unmarried woman by 17% of nurses and 21% of women from the control group and divorced women were represented by 6 nurses and 4 people from the control group. Other marital statuses were very similarly represented by women qualified for both groups.
The research used a questionnaire built for the study Lifestyle of men and women, consisting of 79 questions. In the article only its fourth part is used-selected questions related to pro-health and anti-health behaviours. In order to determine the statistical differences between the two groups, the Mann-Whitney U test was used.

RESULTS
In the first place, the examined persons were asked what is most harmful to their health.
The respondents could choose from the following answers: stimulants, non-compliance with healthy  habits.
In the following question, the respondents were asked to evaluate, as generally as possible, their current health condition. The results are shown in Figure 2. At the final stage of the research, the respondents were asked if they cared for their health condition. The results are shown in Figure   3. did not smoke cigarettes [9]. Polish nurses, compared to their colleagues from Ireland perform better, as 56% of nurses were non-smokers according to research in this country [18], and less favourably than nurses in Australia, among whom 87% of respondents were non-smokers