Evaluation of doctors’ assessment of healthy lifestyle: cross-sectional study

Abstract

The aim. To study the factors of doctors’ assessment of their lifestyle as a healthy one, as well as their readiness to take practical measures for health maintenance. Materials and methods. 167 doctors representing all macro regions of Ukraine were interviewed: the levels of awareness of myths about NCDs, locus of control and readiness to take practical measures aimed at health maintenance were determined. The main acting forces were determined by factor analysis. Cluster analysis was performed on the basis of the obtained factors using hierarchical (Ward’s method) and non-hierarchical (k-means method) clustering methods. Results. The following concepts were assessed: Myths about NCDs (11 factors, 3 elements, 4 clusters), locus of control (12 factors, 3 elements, 4 clusters), factors influencing health behavior (12 factors, 3 elements, 4 clusters), readiness to take practical measures aimed at health maintenance (22 factors, 4 elements, 2 clusters). Factors that positively and negatively affect a person’s assessment of the lifestyle as a healthy one were identified. Conclusions. The selected subgroups (clusters) of respondents are a simple and effective method of building a better understanding of the target audience of campaigns to promote healthy lifestyles, which after proper clarification, verification and development of a reliable measurement tool can be used to create targeted messages for each population group after a proper clarification and verification.