Psychological characteristics of attitudes towards dangers among healthcare professionals working and not working with COVID-19 patients

Abstract

Introduction. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed many challenges for the present day healthcare system related to the quality of care of COVID-19 patients. Therefore, healthcare professionals must recognize dangers and adequately respond to them in time. This paper represents a first effort in identifying the psychological characteristics of attitudes towards dangers among healthcare professionals working and not working with COVID-19 patients. Methods. A sample of 246 respondents varying in gender and age took part in this study, including 106 healthcare professionals from the city of Cherepovets (Vologda Region) and the city of Ivanovo (Ivanovo Region). The types of attitudes towards dangers, the need for experiencing a sense of danger, and the need for safety were identified using original questionnaires developed by the authors. The φ* criterion – Fisher’s angular transformation (Fisher’s criterion) was used for data processing. Results. Gender-related differences in the level of threat sensitivity and in the types of responding to dangers were found in groups of healthcare and non-healthcare professionals. Among healthcare professionals, the number of those exaggerating the importance of threats decreased significantly (from 30 % to 14.15 %) and the number of those with an ambiguous type of responding increased (from 17.14 % to 30.19 %). Compared to healthcare professionals not working with COVID-19 patients, those treating and caring for COVID-19 patients showed a decrease in threat sensitivity (from 57.69 % to 27.78 %) and an increase in the need for safety (from 28.85 % to 64.81 %) and in the need for ensuring safety (from 57.69 % to 79.63 %). The differences were significant. Discussion. The results can be readily used in the process of selecting physicians and nurses for working under conditions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and under other epidemiological conditions.