Preparedness, Risk Perception, Concerns and Risk Acceptance among Hospital Healthcare Workers (HCWs) in facing the emerging new Corona Virus (COVID-19) Outbreak in Najran Hospitals, Saudi Arabia, at the early phase of the pandemic (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic extended to reach most countries in the globe during a few months. The preparedness of healthcare institutions and healthcare workers is crucial for applying effective prevention and control measures. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to assess HCWs and institutional preparedness in facing the new emerging coronavirus (COVID-19) infection at the early phase of the pandemic, and to explore HCWs' risk perception, concerns, and risk acceptance. METHODS A cross-sectional survey was conducted among hospital HCWs in the main hospitals, in Najran city, southwestern Saudi Arabia, at the early phase of the pandemic, during March-April, 2020. RESULTS Overall, 563 completed questionnaires were received (382; 67.9% from KKH and 181; 32.1% from NNH). The majority were females (78.6%), nurses constituted (74.7%). The age range of the participants was 20-63 years, with the mean age of physicians 36.5±9.15 years and 31.8±7.48 years for nurses. Among participants, 65.8% attended training program/s for COVID-19 infection, of whom 69.9% were satisfied with this training. Almost all (97.4%) of the participants reported reading the official circulars assigned for guidelines, case definition and, infection control measures regarding COVID-19 infection, 97.1% received basic infection control training, 98.9% checked for the best-fitted size of N95 mask, and 89.4% were influenza vaccinated. Of the participants, 82.6% reported that they have sufficient knowledge about t COVID-19 pandemic, 82.0% being confident that they can protect themselves and their patients when dealing with COVID-19 cases, 92.9% reported that they understand the risk of COVID-19 infection for patients and healthcare staff and 83.2% reported agreement of accepting the risk of getting the infection being a part of their job. The study participants attained a 20.26±2.60 knowledge score on a scale of 26 maximum points (77.9%), of them 74.5% attained 20 points or more (>75%) indicating good working knowledge about the COVID-19 pandemic. Exploring the participants’ perception about the preparedness of their institutions towards the COVID-19 pandemic, 70.8% agreed that institutional precautionary measures to COVID-19 in the workplace are sufficient, 71.6% agreed that all personal protective equipment (PPE) are provided and always available in the workplace, and 90.6% mentioned that the staff in their institutions have had adequate training. Exploring risk perception and the affective aspect of the pandemic on HCWs, 79.0%, 35.2%, 64.2% of the participants felt that they, their families, and the Najran community are at high risk of getting an infection with the COVID-19 virus respectively, and 54.7% and 55.1% were concerned about their personal and family health respectively. CONCLUSIONS Findings revealed good knowledge about the COVID-19 pandemic among HCWs in Najran hospitals, Saudi Arabia. Concerns and worries were expressed regard working with the highly infectious COVID-19 patients. Participants appreciated important aspects of institutional preparedness. Experience gained from the previous MERS-CoV outbreak may explain good knowledge, risk acceptance, self-efficacy, and good and rapid institutional preparedness at the early stage of the pandemic.

The impact of bankruptcy regimes on entrepreneurship and innovation. Is there any relationship?

The literature review indicates that bankruptcy law may play an important role in and be one of the factors influencing the development of entrepreneurship, innovation, and thus economic growth, among other things. In previous studies, the analysis of the impact of bankruptcy law on individual variables has been conducted independently. Our aim was to conduct a holistic analysis, taking several factors into account simultaneously. Therefore, a descriptive model was proposed, based on which the following research hypothesis was formulated: In countries characterised by an effective legal system and at the same time debtor-friendly bankruptcy law, the level of risk acceptance among entrepreneurs is higher, which is reflected in higher levels of entrepreneurship and innovation. Based on the selected variables, a cross-sectional analysis was conducted using linear models estimated on the basis of the least-squares method. Additionally, to strengthen the conclusions drawn, the models were assessed in such a way enabling the analysis of causality as defined by Granger based on the two-step process. The results obtained allowed us to confirm the research hypothesis: in countries characterised by an efficient legal system and at the same time debtor-friendly bankruptcy law, the level of risk acceptance among entrepreneurs is higher, which is reflected in higher levels of entrepreneurship and innovation. The research results are particularly important from the point of view of legislators who are responsible for drafting amendments to bankruptcy law. Including certain debtor-friendly provisions may, in the long run, lead to increased entrepreneurship and innovation, and thus economic development.

RIVERBED, BANKS AND BEYOND: AN EXAMINATION OF ROMAN INFRASTRUCTURE AND INTERVENTIONS IN RESPONSE TO HYDROLOGICAL RISK IN THE PO–VENETIAN PLAIN

Water poses a particular challenge to the cities and settlements of the Po–Venetian plain. The region has some of the highest levels of precipitation in Italy and is criss-crossed by dozens of rivers, including the Po, Adige and Tagliamento. Throughout history, there was considerable hydrological risk to the well-being of riparian communities from hazards such as flooding and lateral channel movement, yet local residents did not sit idly by. This article synthesizes the available evidence for Roman responses to hydrological risk in the Po–Venetian plain from the first century BC to the sixth century AD, examining their workings and the hazards they sought to counteract, integrating them into wider discussions on risk in the Roman world. The responses are divided into the categories of defensive works (embankments and dykes) and channel interventions (channel rectification, channel diversion and dredging). While the effectiveness of these methods is questioned, in particular their potential to cause unintended changes to the watercourse, the decision by riparian communities to undertake them suggests a degree of local success. Nevertheless, an examination of the archaeological and palaeoclimatic evidence suggests a discrepancy between peak intervention and peak risk, implying increasing vulnerability and risk acceptance amongst riparian communities during late antiquity. L'acqua pone una particolare sfida alle città e agli insediamenti della pianura padano-veneta. La regione è caratterizzata da alcuni tra i più alti livelli di precipitazioni in Italia ed è attraversata da molti fiumi, tra cui il Po, l'Adige e il Tagliamento. Nel corso della storia, le comunità rivierasche hanno dovuto affrontare un notevole rischio idrologico legato a inondazioni e instabilità dei canali laterali. Gli abitanti dell'area non sono certamente rimasti a guardare. Questo articolo propone una sintesi delle evidenze disponibili relativamente alle risposte romane al rischio idrologico nella pianura padano-veneta dal I secolo a.C. al VI secolo d.C., esaminando il loro funzionamento e i pericoli che hanno cercato di contrastare, integrandole in più ampie discussioni sul rischio nel mondo romano. Le soluzioni individuate per arginare il rischio idrogeologico sono suddivise nelle categorie di opere difensive (argini e fossati) e interventi di canalizzazione (modifiche e deviazioni dei canali e dragaggio). Sebbene l'efficacia di questi metodi sia stata messa in dubbio, in particolare la loro possibilità di causare cambiamenti non intenzionali al corso d'acqua, la decisione delle comunità rivierasche di adottarli suggerisce un certo grado di successo locale. Tuttavia, un esame delle testimonianze archeologiche e paleoclimatiche suggerisce una discrepanza tra il picco di intervento e il picco di rischio, implicando una crescente vulnerabilità e un'accettazione del rischio tra le comunità rivierasche durante la tarda antichità.

Pilot randomised controlled trial of the Risk Acceptance Ladder (RAL) as a tool for targeting health communications

Background Improving adherence to self-protective behaviours is a public health priority. We aimed to assess the potential effectiveness and ease of use of an online version of the Risk Acceptance Ladder (RAL) in promoting help-seeking for cigarette smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, insufficient physical activity, or low fruit and vegetable consumption. Methods 843 UK adults were recruited, of whom 602 engaged in at least one risky behaviour. Those with no immediate plans to change (n = 171) completed a behaviour specific RAL. Participants were randomised to one of two conditions; a short message congruent (on-target, n = 73) or incongruent (off-target, n = 98) with their RAL response. Performance of the RAL was assessed by participants’ ability to select an applicable RAL item and reported ease of use of the RAL. Effectiveness was assessed by whether or not participants clicked a link to receive information about changing their target behaviour. Results Two thirds (68.9%, 95% CI = 61.8%-75.3%) of participants were able to select an applicable RAL item that corresponded to what they believed would need to change in order to alter their target behaviour, with 64.9% (95% CI = 57.5%-71.7%) reporting that it was easy to select one option. Compared with the off-target group, participants allocated to the on-target group had greater odds of clicking on the link to receive information (31.5% vs 19.4%; OR = 2.07, 95% CI = 1.01–4.26). Conclusion The Risk Acceptance Ladder may have utility as a tool for tailoring messages to prompt initial steps to engaging in self-protective behaviours.

Risk-Acceptance Criteria in Occupational Health and Safety Risk-Assessment—The State-of-the-Art through a Systematic Literature Review

The utilization of risk acceptance criteria (RAC) can help a business to judge whether the risk level concerning any process involved in its working environment is acceptable or not, especially when the risk has a significant societal impact. Thus, the main intention of this study is to make known the current state-of-the-art concerning RACs and to propose new interpretations of it by surveying, for first time, the scientific literature about the RACs associated with the occupational health and safety (OHS) risk-assessment methodologies (RAA). A second objective of this work is the attainment of a prediction for the evolution of the quantity of the publications concerning OHS-RACs, and a third one is the derivation of an algorithm (via a flow-chart) in order to illustrate the process of the formation of new OHS-RACs. The work consists of two parts, (a) exploring and presenting methods of developing RACs in OHS; (b) classifying, analyzing, and benchmarking relevant published scientific articles by surveying the Scopus data base with proper search-hints, through a time interval of 20 years (January2000–December 2019). The review has defined a plethora of RAC-papers with reference to OHS, which is a remarkable percentage in comparison with the other fields aggregated, and this outcome proves that the issue of utilizing RACs is fundamental for the field of OHS. Additionally, it has been deduced that, day after day, there is an increasing tendency for the scientific community to develop and use RACs in the field of occupational safety, as this is evident by their frequent reference to the risk analysis and assessment (RAA) process. Our specific research methodology has been compatible with the PRISMA protocol. A prediction for the evolution of the quantity of the OHS-RAC publications is also given by confirming the Poisson stochastic process. Finally, we propose a generic guideline framework that can contribute to the establishment of new empirically-generated OHS-RACs.

Examining the Role of Trust in Regulators in Food Safety Risk Assessment: A Cross-regional Analysis of Three Chinese Societies Using an Integrative Framework

Considerable efforts have been made to depict the causal patterns of trust, risk perception, and risk acceptance. Yet, it remains far from clear whether the established models are over-simplistic and to what extent the observed associations are contingent upon risk contexts. Extending the theorizing based on the Causal Chain model, this study adopts a comparative approach to examining the role of trust in regulators in the case of post-Fukushima food imports in Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Taiwan. Consistent with the proposed integrative framework, all three samples exhibited indirect relationships between trust in regulators and behavioral intentions through two types of risk perception (affective and cognitive risk perceptions) and risk acceptance. Findings showed that risk acceptance was the most prominent mediator in explaining the extended model and supported the necessity of distinguishing risk acceptance and behavioral intention as two self-contained constructs working in sequence. Moreover, trust in regulators showed the strongest predictivity in behavioral intentions in the Mainland China sample, while risk perception played a more important role in explaining outcome variables in the Hong Kong and Taiwan samples. In addition to contributing to theory building by presenting the external validity of the integrative framework across different political and food regulatory systems, the study demonstrates practical implications for regulatory authorities and risk communicators.

Empirical Research of the Hardiness of the Personality in Critical Conditions of Life

Uncertainty and instability haunt us every day in today’s new reality. The purpose is a theoretical justification and empirical study of the hardiness of the personality in critical conditions of life. Psychodiagnostic complex of hardiness is indicated as a factor of personality adaptation. High average and high levels of hardiness are characteristics of an independently developed personality with a high ability to adapt. It has been established that the average level of hardiness contributes to the optimal experience of situations of uncertainty and involves a person’s choice of coping strategies to counteract the new difficulties in professional and personal life. It has been substantiated that respondents who have high rates of hardiness have a higher level of adaptation efficiency. It has been stated that “risk acceptance” as the component of hardiness of participants of the “Work and Travel” program is more pronounced than in the respondents of other samples (t = -1.54). It has been proved that empirical research of semantic psychological parameters of personality hardiness in critical conditions of life allowed to draw significant conclusions. It is noted that the results of the study need to be operationalized in training, educational and developmental and psycho-correctional practices. It is emphasized that the obtained empirical results should be used in the training of applicants for psychological specialties.