The significance of health in the hierarchy of personal values among nurses

Introduction
Defining the idea of health and placing it within a personal hierarchy of values is often the foundation of choice of behaviors that determine a lifestyle.

Aim of the research
The main aim of this paper is to evaluate the significance of health in the hierarchy of nurses’ personal values, including socio-demographic variables.

Material and methods
A total of 191 nurses, who were students of bridging studies of the first and second cycles at the Faculty of Health Sciences, the Medical University of Lublin, Poland and at the University of Business and Enterprise in Ostrowiec-Świętokrzyski, Poland, were included in the analysis. The study was conducted in 2014 and 2015. A standardized research tool, the personal values list (PVL) of Z. Juczyński was applied.

Results
The results of the study show that for the nurses, the most important aspects of happiness that define life satisfaction are “successful family life” (3.83 points), “good health” (3.55), and ”favorite profession or work” (2.05). Personal values that are evaluated as highest by the respondents are “good health, physical, and mental fitness” (3.77 points), “love and friendship” (3.55) and, less commonly, “knowledge and wisdom” (1.75). The respondents of the eldest age group (above forty), had a tendency to value “good health, physical, and mental fitness” significantly higher in terms of personal value (p = 0.0007), in comparison with the respondents of the younger age groups, for whom “intelligence and mental acuity” is more important (p = 0.06).

Conclusions
Health constitutes the highest value in the hierarchy of personal values indicated by the nurses and significantly conditions their satisfaction with life. Socio-demographic variables such as age, education, marital status, place of residence, and workplace influence the rank of health in the system of values for the surveyed nurses.