Assessing the Risk Perception of Natural Disasters Among the Staff of Hospitals in Mashhad, Iran

Background: Risk perception of natural disasters refers to the mental perception of the risk of a particular disaster and concerns about its outcomes. Decisions taken during disasters are guided based on the level of risk perception of the affected people and policymakers. The current study aims to investigate the risk perception of natural disasters among the staff of selected hospitals in Mashhad, Iran. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on ۳۰۰ staff working in six hospitals affiliated to Mashhad University of Medical Sciences in Mashhad, Iran, who were selected using multi-stage cluster and stratified sampling methods. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data. This questionnaire had two sections; the first section surveys the demographic characteristics of the participants. In the second section, the participants were asked to express their opinion about the probability of occurrence and their concerns regarding the outcomes of the two disasters of flood and earthquake. In order to analyze the data, descriptive and analytical methods such as t-test, Mann-Whitney U, and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used in SPSS software. The significance level of the tests was set at ۰.۰۵. Results: The Mean±SD risk perception of floods and earthquakes was ۲.۷۴±۰.۷۹ and ۳.۵۷±۰.۷۹, respectively. The Mean±SD outcome perception of floods and earthquakes were ۳.۲۸±۰.۶۶ and ۴.۰۳±۰.۶۶, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in the outcome perception of floods among the staff with different levels of education, types of work (organizational position), and working departments (clinical and non-clinical) (P≤۰.۰۵). There was also a statistically significant difference in risk perception of floods and earthquakes between the staff with and without a history of exposure to these disasters (P≤۰.۰۵). However, there was no significant difference in risk perception of disasters between the staff who completed and not completed the training courses related to disasters. Conclusion: The risk perception of natural disasters in the staff of hospitals in Mashhad is at moderate to high level. It is recommended to carry out programs to increase the quality and effectiveness of training courses related to natural disasters and, hence, improve the risk perception of staff as much as possible.

Keywords:

Risk perception , Natural disasters , Staff , Hospital , Iran