Motivation for health and a healthy lifestyle among employees of the aluminum and coal industry

Abstract

Introduction. Th e system of formation of a healthy lifestyle is recognized as the most important area of prevention. Studies of motivation for health and healthy lifestyles in workers engaged in harmful working conditions are few and indicate the negative impact of occupational disease on the psychosocial status of patients, a signifi cant impact of adherence to a healthy lifestyle on the prevalence and course of somatic diseases and the need to develop health-saving behavior.The aimof the studywas to study the prevalence of diff erent levels of motivation for maintaining health and a healthy lifestyle among workers in the metallurgical and coal industries.Materials and methods.72 workers of mines and sections of the South of Kuzbass with the established diagnosis of occupational disease were surveyed; 372 workers of the aluminum plant and 54 people who do not work in harmful working conditions (engineering and technical workers). The surveys were conducted by the method of «Motivation index for health and healthy lifestyle», alexithymia was evaluated by the method of «Toronto scale of alexithymia (TAS)» with the informed consent of the subjects.Results.Th e high level of motivation for health and a healthy lifestyle among employees of the aluminum industry corresponds to the population. Th e group of coal industry workers with occupational diseases surveyed is dominated by a low level of motivation to maintain health and a healthy lifestyle. In the group of workers who are not employed in harmful working conditions, a high degree of motivation for health and a healthy lifestyle is determined. Th e predominance of motivation on emotional and cognitive scales among workers not employed in harmful working conditions was revealed. In the group of coal industry workers with occupational diseases, the number of persons with a high level of motivation on an emotional scale has been reduced. Among persons with alexithymia signifi cantly reduced the level of motivation on an emotional scale. Among the workers of the coal industry with occupational diseases revealed signifi cantly higher prevalence of alexithymia.Conclusions. It is assumed that the link of reduced motivation for health in persons with occupational diseases with the presence of alexithymia.