Study to Compare the Health Practices, Attitudes, and Perceptions of Military and Civilian Personnel

摘要

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the health practices, attitudes and perceptions of military and civilian personnel assigned to the Ogden Air Logistics Center. Additionally, the results were compared with data obtained from the Vogel study conducted at Headquarters Air Force Logistics Command in 1986. The six health practices included body weight, eating breakfast, hours of sleep, smoking, alcohol consumption, and strenuous physical activity. Data was collected using a survey questionnaire that duplicated the HQ AFLC 1986 survey. Study results concerning the current health practices of Ogden ALC personnel showed that more civilians than military think of themselves as overweight; generally, civilian employees eat breakfast more frequently than military members; both categories reported sleeping the same number of hours each night; more military personnel currently smoke cigarettes than their civilian counterparts; over twice an many civilians than military claimed to be non-drinkers; and more military than civilians engage in regular strenuous physical activity. When Ogden ALC - HQ AFLC comparisons were made it was found that generally Ogden ALC personnel eat breakfast more frequently, smoke less, engage in strenuous physical activity more, drink less often and fewer drinks per sitting when they do the HQ AFLC personnel. Results also showed that HQ AFLC personnel are closer to their ideal weight than are Ogden ALC individuals while both populations reported sleeping the same number of hours each night.