Life Habits and Personal Behaviour of Physicians Working in Government Service and Private Practice in Croatia- a Pilot Study

The goal of this research was to compare the life habits and personal health behaviour of 182 physicians in government services and in private services and to gain better insight in life habits and personal health behaviour of physicians in general. Methods: Using the 20 statements regarding life habits and personal health behaviour. Results: There are no differences between life habits of physicians regarding the type of service they work except that almost all physicians working in government services stated that they had at least a one close confidential friend while only 2/3 of physicians practice in private services did so. Although 2/3 of doctors from both groups consider themselves “in good health”, more than half of them stated that they were an inappropriate weight for their height and most of them did not exercise regularly. More than 1/3 always drinks more than five alcoholic drinks a week and 1/3 always smoke more than half a pack of cigarettes a day. Conclusion: The type of service that physicians work in makes no difference on their life habits and personal behaviour except that physicians in private services have significantly less confidential friends. The better insight in life habits and personal behaviour of Croatian physicians was gained from the study and “target” spots for interventions are found: attitudes and behaviour considering unhealthy nutritional regimen, excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and lack of physical activity. The benefit of this study is that it emphasizes the need for further research on the subject, since there is a need for improvement of physician’s attitudes, life habits and behaviour. Changing attitudes towards unhealthy nutritional regimen, excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and lack of physical activity could also be, for physicians, a beneficent way to improve the health of their patients serving as a “good model”.