Perceptions of personal safety hazards in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic by USA and Russian medical staff

Perceptions of personal safety hazards in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic by USA and Russian medical staff

Elena M. Klimova, Konstantin N. Tsaranov, Vladimir A. Zhiltsov, Alexey G. Tarbastaev

The purpose is to conduct a comparative analysis of an empirical study of the perception of personal security threats in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, conducted by a team of scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine (California), Ikan School of Medicine (New York), and the authors of the article.Methodology and Approach. Russian sample medical personnel were asked to answer questions using Google Forms that reveal anxiety and fears associated with the risk of coronavirus infection. Each detailed answer was assigned a category. The names of categories and the correspondence of the text to their meaning were determined by a group of experts. Some answers contained several semantic categories. The received text data was processed in the IBM Watson Studio program (Version 1.1.0-177). Cluster analysis was performed using the K-Means model.Results. The Russian sample revealed differences in awareness of the problem at the level of indicators such as fears, problems, requests and decisions depending on the position of physicians: nurses working without direct contact with doctors, doctors and nurses working in direct contact (conditions of wards). It is shown that out of the eight factors identified during the diagnosis of US physicians, Russian physicians do not verbalize the need for employer responsibility for providing the possibility of caring for a child during an increase in working hours and closing schools, for providing competent medical assistance in case of redistribution of personnel, and for lack of access to relevant information. Practical implication. The information obtained during the study can be used by psychologists in individual psychological counseling to reduce the level of personal and situational anxiety among medical workers working in conditions of increased danger; to develop a program of psychological support for the adaptation of medical workers to work in conditions of increased risk; to develop a system of incentives for medical workers; to increase the professional motivation of medical workers.

2020

USA, Risk factors, Russia, medical staff, personal safety, COVID-19 pandemic

DOI: 10.18384/2224-0209-2020-2-1008

Вестник Московского государственного областного университета

Moscow Region State University Editorial Office

Political science