Association between stress and eating behaviour among nurses in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia

Abstract

Introduction: Stress is a factor that may affect dietary behaviour among nurses, which can contribute to a risk of overweight or obesity in the future. The aim of this study was to determine the association between stress and eating behaviour among nurses at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was performed among 105 nurses (30-50 years of age; 84.8% females and 15.2% males) and participants were assessed using a selfadministered questionnaire consisting of socio-demographic data, body mass index (BMI), Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10), and the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and the associations were determined by Kruskal-Wallis Test. Results: Based on descriptive data, 73.3% of nurses (n=77) were moderately stressed and 49.5% had normal BMI (n=52). Furthermore, according to three eating domains, the emotional eating score was the highest (30.0±16.0). An association was found between emotional eating [χ2(2)=10.305, p=0.006], while external eating [χ2(2)=5.103, p=0.078], and restrained eating [χ2(2)=2.335, p=0.311] did not display a significant difference. The Bonferroni test was further used and there was a significant difference between low and moderate stress levels only (p<0.01), while others were not significantly different (low-high and moderate-high) (p>0.05). The results showed that nurses in the low stress group had lower scores of emotional eating behaviour than nurses with moderate stress levels. Conclusion: Stress has an impact on emotional eating behaviour and more research is needed to fully understand this link.