Subjective and objective indicators in the research on health status

Abstract

Several research works in the related international literature on sociology and health sciences deal with the state of health in one selected population. In these researches, the chosen sample is often connected with special jobs, especially with healthcare professionals and their working conditions. These studies predominantly examine the self-rated subjective health status using questionnaires. There are others that assess the state of health based not only on self-rated subjective indicators, but also using objective data gained by measuring. Considering the international experiences, we chose a special population in our research – healthcare professionals working in an institute for chronically ill psychiatric patients. Our choice was influenced by the fact that we wanted to include their unique working conditions when exploring and assessing their health status. Moreover, our approach was to assess the objective state of health alongside the subjective factors, as our hypothesis was that the majority of the indicators presumably coincided. The data were collected with the help of three questionnaires and some indicators of the objective health statuses were measured. The findings were processed using the SPSS 17.0 mathematical-statistical software package. Following the descriptive statistics, we applied hierarchic cluster-analysis based on results of the WHOQOLD BREF26 life-quality questionnaire, the WHO WBI-5 Well Being Index, and on the body composition analysis. The results show the objective and subjective health status of population and the factors that influenced it; the working conditions, and the interpersonal contacts in the workplace. The conclusion was that in the examined population the subjective and objective health status doesn’t coincide.