[Health behavior of healthcare personnel: The European Presst-Next Study].

Objectives: The objective of the NEXT (Nurses' Early Exit) study was to identify the organizational and health factors in the 10 participating countries associated with job satisfaction of nurses and nurses' aides or with their desire to change occupation or stop working prematurely.

Methods: Questions about health were somewhat more detailed in the French version of the questionnaire and allowed us to determine health behaviors of this representative sample of French caregivers (PRESST: Promotion of Health and Job Satisfaction of European Healthcare Workers [www.next-study.net; www.presst-next.fr]).

Results: Of the 6980 (796 men and 6184 women) nurses and nurses' aides studied in late 2002 and early 2003, 32.6% reported that they smoked at least occasionally and 24.3% regularly. Only 24.4% of the staff in our sample exercised at least weekly. Overweight was observed in 27,6% of the sample, mostly women (42% of men and 24.7% of women), and obesity affected 6,4% of men and 7% of women. Overweight was slightly less frequent than among the general adult population of France, 39.8% according to the CREDES SPS survey in 2002, but these healthcare workers were younger. On the whole, burnout was higher among French caregivers than among those from other European nations in the Next study.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates the need to conduct and assess interventions for the dual purpose of (1) reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with the conditions most sensitive to these risk factors in healthcare personnel and (2) improving their knowledge, motivations and credibility in providing health education to patients.