Navigation
The relationship between depression, anxiety, and stress levels and eating behavior in emergency service workers
It has been observed that people who work shifts experience a variety of biological, psychological, and behavioral issues. In this study by Erden et al. (2023), the authors examined the eating attitudes and behaviors of 92 health professionals (nurses, doctors, emergency medical technicians [EMT], security personnel, and medical secretaries) working shifts in a demanding environment (emergency department), and investigated the associations between anxiety, depression, stress levels, and eating behaviors (emotional eating, restrictive eating, and external eating), in terms of sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. Study participants submitted the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS), the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ), and a sociodemographic data form. Analysis of the results revealed that, when the “emotional, external, and restricted eating” sub-dimensions of eating behavior of emergency service workers were evaluated, anxiety, depression, being a nurse-emergency medical technician, higher levels of stress, being a woman, diet history, and working 24-hour shifts were substantially associated with “emotional eating.” Moreover, “extrinsic eating” was found to be linked to being single, higher levels of depression, working 24-hour shifts, and younger age, while “restrictive eating” was linked to a higher body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and diet history. The authors note that being single, being female, working 24-hour shifts, having a history of poor nutrition, having an undergraduate education, and being a nurse-EMT were factors found to increase the likelihood of developing eating behavior disorders. “Extrinsic eating” was linked to being single, having higher depression levels, working 24-hour shifts, and being younger. The authors highlight that their findings show how emotional eating scores and anxiety, depression, and stress scores are related. Furthermore, the authors discovered strong associations between scores for restricted eating and waist circumference, body mass index, and diet history. The authors recommend the identification of specific eating behavioral disorders while treating eating behavior issues to plan effective work programs and to improve the quality of service as long shift workers, such as those who work 24-hour shifts, are more likely to develop eating behavior issues. [NPID: Depression, anxiety, stress, sociodemographic factors, restricted eating, external eating, emotional eating, emergency service workers]
Year: 2023
