The relationship between health locus of control and lifestyle counselling practices among healthcare professionals: a cross-sectional study

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between health locus of control (LOC), healthy lifestyle behaviours, and lifestyle counselling practices among healthcare professionals.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study included 247 physicians and 267 nurses selected through systematic sampling from healthcare professionals at a tertiary hospital. Data were collected via Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale Form A and a data collection form. Participants were asked whether they practiced five healthy lifestyle behaviours (not smoking, dedicating at least 10 minutes a day to stress management, maintaining ideal weight, consuming 5 servings of fruit and/or vegetables daily, and exercising for at least 150 minutes weekly) and whether they would recommend them to their patients. Results: A total of 514 healthcare professionals participated in the study (mean age: 33.88 ± 9.24 years; 68.5% were female). Of the participants, 25.1% reported smoking; 23.9% reported never exercising; 24.5% reported never reaching their ideal weight; and 29.8% reported not consuming five servings of fruits and vegetables daily. The frequency with which these were recommended to patients was found to be 60.5% for quitting smoking; 33.9% for stress management; 32.3% for physical exercise; 19.8% for weight control; and 14.4% for fruit and vegetable consumption. A significant positive correlation was established between practicing healthy behaviours and frequency of clinical recommendations. “Internal” LOC was significantly associated with both greater personal adherence to healthy habits (excluding smoking and stress management) and higher frequency of counselling patients on healthy lifestyle behaviours (excluding stress management). Conclusion: Healthcare professional’s health LOC appears to be a significant factor, both in their own healthy lifestyle behaviours and in recommending these behaviours to their patients. One way to address the implementation gap in lifestyle medicine could be to focus on developing internal LOC orientation among healthcare professionals.