Maintaining a Healthy Workforce

Abstract — The study describes the health maintenance practices and utilization of complementary and alternative therapies by nurses and nursing students from Canada, Hawaii and American Samoa. Forecasts of an ongoing nursing shortage coupled with a focus on healthy behavior provided an impetus to describe actual practices of self-care and use of alternative therapies. The study addresses the dearth of knowledge in this area. Nurses and students were asked to anonymously complete a two-part survey that enumerated their perspectives on alternative therapies usage and self-care. Indicators of self-care included sleep, nutrition, exercise, and time. Use of alternative therapies is an integral part of self-care for the nurses and students in the three study regions. Keywords-self-care; life style; nursing students; nurses; health I