Original Research

Health, self-care and the offshore workforce – opportunities for behaviour change interventions, an epidemiological survey

AUTHORS

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Kathrine Gibson Smith
1 Dr, Research Fellow *

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Vibhu Paudyal
2 Dr, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacy

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Susan Klein
3 Professor, Professor of Health and Social Care

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Derek Stewart
4 Professor, Professor of Pharmacy Practice

AFFILIATIONS

1, 4 School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK

2 School of Pharmacy College of Medical and Dental Sciences, Sir Robert Aitken Institute for Medical Research University of Birmingham Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK

3 Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK

ACCEPTED: 17 September 2017


early abstract:

Introduction: the high risk nature of offshore work and inherent occupational hazards necessitate that offshore workers engage in behaviours which promote health and wellbeing. The survey aimed to assess offshore workers' health, self-care, quality of life and mental wellbeing, and to identify associated areas requiring behaviour change.
Methods: offshore workers attending a course, at a training facility in Scotland, were invited to complete a questionnaire comprising 11 validated measures of health, self-care, quality of life and mental wellbeing.
Results: 352 offshore workers responded (completion rate 45.4%). Almost three quarters were identified as overweight/obese (n = 236, 74.4%). Median scores for SF-8 quality of life (physical = 56.1, IQR = 4.8; mental = 54.7, IQR = 8.1) and Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing scales were positive (52.0, IQR = 9.0). The largest proportion of participants' scores across alcohol use (n = 187, 53.4%) and sleep quality (n = 229, 67.0%) domains were categorized as negative. The median number of self-care domains for which offshore workers scored negatively was 3 (IQR = 2.0).
Conclusions: there are key areas relating to the health, quality of life, mental wellbeing and self-care of the offshore workforce that warrant addressing.