Motivations for Healthy Lifestyle in Railroad Employees

<p>The aim of the paper is to present the results of a survey of railroad employees’ motivation for a healthy lifestyle. For this purpose a specific questionnaire was developed. The study was performed on 245 Slovene railroad workers (168 of them blue-collar ones). The great majority (66.9%) w...

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Main Authors: Iztok Ostan, Borut Poljšak, Eva Podovšovnik Axelsson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Zagreb, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences 2012-01-01
Series:Promet (Zagreb)
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.fpz.unizg.hr/traffic/index.php/PROMTT/article/view/267
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author Iztok Ostan
Borut Poljšak
Eva Podovšovnik Axelsson
author_facet Iztok Ostan
Borut Poljšak
Eva Podovšovnik Axelsson
author_sort Iztok Ostan
collection DOAJ
description <p>The aim of the paper is to present the results of a survey of railroad employees’ motivation for a healthy lifestyle. For this purpose a specific questionnaire was developed. The study was performed on 245 Slovene railroad workers (168 of them blue-collar ones). The great majority (66.9%) were found to be overweight or obese (BMI 25 or more), with no significant difference between blue- and white-collar workers. The great majority of them were in general aware of having unhealthy nutrition and an unhealthy lifestyle.</p> <p><strong> </strong>Most of the employees felt the need to improve (at least in part) their nutrition (74.7%) and lifestyle (78.0%); the majority (67.8%) also declared that they could adopt a healthier lifestyle despite the constraints of everyday life and work conditions; however, 57.6% said that they had been already putting considerable effort into a healthier nutrition and lifestyle. Thus the <em>effort</em> needed to overcome constraints toward a healthier lifestyle seems to be the key problem: the majority (54.3%) would rather choose walking than running or other intensive forms of exercise; they are not ready to do it for more than one hour per day (60%), and they are not ready to give up permanently food that they like and that is considered unhealthy. The differences in motivations for a healthy lifestyle between blue- and white-collar workers were not significant at the 0.05 level.</p> <p>Further research in this field is needed; however, it seems that the methods of efficient marginal modifications of lifestyle are required.</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>KEYWORDS</strong></p> <p>human resources management, railroad, blue-collar workers, white-collar workers, healthy lifestyle, motivations</p>
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spelling doaj.art-c52923268d4348a0a77fbbf3ed69ffe32022-12-21T18:58:17ZengUniversity of Zagreb, Faculty of Transport and Traffic SciencesPromet (Zagreb)0353-53201848-40692012-01-01241455210.7307/ptt.v24i1.267173Motivations for Healthy Lifestyle in Railroad EmployeesIztok OstanBorut PoljšakEva Podovšovnik Axelsson<p>The aim of the paper is to present the results of a survey of railroad employees’ motivation for a healthy lifestyle. For this purpose a specific questionnaire was developed. The study was performed on 245 Slovene railroad workers (168 of them blue-collar ones). The great majority (66.9%) were found to be overweight or obese (BMI 25 or more), with no significant difference between blue- and white-collar workers. The great majority of them were in general aware of having unhealthy nutrition and an unhealthy lifestyle.</p> <p><strong> </strong>Most of the employees felt the need to improve (at least in part) their nutrition (74.7%) and lifestyle (78.0%); the majority (67.8%) also declared that they could adopt a healthier lifestyle despite the constraints of everyday life and work conditions; however, 57.6% said that they had been already putting considerable effort into a healthier nutrition and lifestyle. Thus the <em>effort</em> needed to overcome constraints toward a healthier lifestyle seems to be the key problem: the majority (54.3%) would rather choose walking than running or other intensive forms of exercise; they are not ready to do it for more than one hour per day (60%), and they are not ready to give up permanently food that they like and that is considered unhealthy. The differences in motivations for a healthy lifestyle between blue- and white-collar workers were not significant at the 0.05 level.</p> <p>Further research in this field is needed; however, it seems that the methods of efficient marginal modifications of lifestyle are required.</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>KEYWORDS</strong></p> <p>human resources management, railroad, blue-collar workers, white-collar workers, healthy lifestyle, motivations</p>http://www.fpz.unizg.hr/traffic/index.php/PROMTT/article/view/267human resources managementrailroadblue-collar workerswhite-collar workershealthy lifestylemotivations
spellingShingle Iztok Ostan
Borut Poljšak
Eva Podovšovnik Axelsson
Motivations for Healthy Lifestyle in Railroad Employees
Promet (Zagreb)
human resources management
railroad
blue-collar workers
white-collar workers
healthy lifestyle
motivations
title Motivations for Healthy Lifestyle in Railroad Employees
title_full Motivations for Healthy Lifestyle in Railroad Employees
title_fullStr Motivations for Healthy Lifestyle in Railroad Employees
title_full_unstemmed Motivations for Healthy Lifestyle in Railroad Employees
title_short Motivations for Healthy Lifestyle in Railroad Employees
title_sort motivations for healthy lifestyle in railroad employees
topic human resources management
railroad
blue-collar workers
white-collar workers
healthy lifestyle
motivations
url http://www.fpz.unizg.hr/traffic/index.php/PROMTT/article/view/267
work_keys_str_mv AT iztokostan motivationsforhealthylifestyleinrailroademployees
AT borutpoljsak motivationsforhealthylifestyleinrailroademployees
AT evapodovsovnikaxelsson motivationsforhealthylifestyleinrailroademployees