Exploring relationships between health-related lifestyle habits and fatigue among flight attendants and trainees

BACKGROUND: Fatigue in flight attendants is an important issue concerning flight safety and occupational health. It is well known that work-related factors and certain lifestyle habits can cause fatigue. But very few studies have focused on the difference between having work experience flight attendants and no flight experience trainees. OBJECTIVE: The present study was performed to compare and investigate the relationships between fatigue and health-related lifestyle habits among flight attendants and trainees. METHODS: A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study with convenience sampling was conducted. A total of 107 flight attendants and 109 trainees were recruited in an international airline. The research was using a self-developed health-related lifestyle habits questionnaire and the Checklist Individual Strength (CIS) scale. The relationships between health-related lifestyle habits and fatigue were examined by Pearson’s chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test. Logistic regression was used to identify factors predicting fatigue among flight attendants and trainees. RESULTS: Nearly half of the participants had fatigue and poor health-related lifestyle habits. Logistic regression showed that trainees with sleeping hours less than 7 hours, had a higher probability of fatigue than those who sleep more than 7 hours. In addition, the flight attendants with an irregular sleep pattern, unbalanced diet, sedentary leisure-time, no use relaxation technique, and an exercise frequency below once a week had a higher probability of fatigue. CONCLUSION: The flight attendants’ sleep patterns, diet, activity, and relaxation had a more significant impact on fatigue than trainees. Therefore, a healthy lifestyle is important in this population for good workplace performance.