Lifestyle behaviour and psychosocial wellbeing of public servants in Ejisu-Juaben Municipality

Abstract

Introduction Lifestyle choices such as diet, exercise, smoking and alcohol intake has effect on the general health of an individual and is responsible for lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and heart diseases. Lifestyle diseases have been on a steady rise in Ghana and this has been attributed to urbanization, globalization, nutritional transition and increased economic status. A population based study to assess the lifestyle behavior and psychosocial wellbeing of public servants - a plausible high risk group has not been well described in Ghana. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among public servants in the EjisuJuaben municipality.A structured questionnaire and systematic random sampling technique was used to collect data from 178 public servants. Data was entered in Microsoft Excel and later exported to STATA version 12for analysis. Results Alcohol consumption was high among male public servants as compared to females (26.7% vs 4.0%, p<0.0001). The prevalence of daily recommended intake of fruits and vegetables (5% and 12% respectively) and physical activity (21%) was low. Whiles females resort to coping strategies such as prayers to deal with stress, males engage in physical exercise (69.3% vs 38.0%, p <0.0001). Healthy lifestyle was associated with occupation, religion and ethnicity. Conclusion Overall, the prevalence of unhealthy lifestyle is high among public servants at the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality and this could lead to an increased risk of non-communicable diseases among this working class. The Regenerative Health and Nutrition Program (RHNP) must pay more attention to public servants and adopt specialised programs targeted at public servants