Evaluation of public health medicine specialists' willingness to work in disasters

Dağdaş Topal SM., Evaluation of Public Health Medicine Specialists' Willingness to Work in Disasters, Public Health Medicine Specialization Thesis, Ankara 2023 In this study, the willingness of public health specialists to work in disasters and the factors affecting this situation were explored. This research is a descriptive study. The data of the study were collected between October and December 2022. A questionnaire consisting of 74 items was prepared by the researchers which included sections namely socio-demographic characteristics of participants, health status of participants, their experience and education regarding disasters, their willingness to work in disasters and the factors that may affect it. Using Google Forms the questionnaire was presented online. 203 public health medicine specialists participated in this descriptive study. Conforming with inclusion criteria, 193 people's questionnaires were analyzed. 50.2% of the public health medicine specialists participating in this study stated that they were willing to work in disasters, while 29.1% stated that they were uncertain. Percieving to work in disasters as a responsibility and wanting to help people had a positive effect on the state of willingness, while factors such as safety issue, lack of information and not knowing current risks affect negatively. According to the phases of the disaster management cycle, the most desired phase was the preparedness phase (68.5%) and the least was the response phase (46.3%). The types of disasters that the participants were most willing to work were epidemic/pandemic, earthquake and famine. The types of disasters they were least willing to work were insect infestitation, radiological, nuclear and chemical events. The willingness to work in disasters was found to be related to having received training on disasters, feeling sufficient to work in disasters and the percieved health level of the participant. Key words: Disaster, disaster medicine, public health, public health medicine specialist, willingness