Psychosocial challenges of Ukrainian healthcare professionals in wartime: Addressing the need for management support

• Published in: Social science & medicine (1982) 2025-01, Vol.364, p.117504, Article 117504
• Main Authors: Sydorenko, Anastasiia Yuriivna, Kiel, Lennart, Spindler, Helle
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Armed Conflicts - psychology; Bullying; Bullying - psychology; Bullying - statistics & numerical data; Female; Health Personnel - psychology; Health Personnel - statistics & numerical data; Healthcare professionals; Humans; Job Satisfaction; Male; Managers; Middle Aged; Psychological safety; Russia-Ukraine war; Surveys and Questionnaires; Ukraine
• ISSN: 0277-9536; 1873-5347; 1873-5347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117504

The Russian-Ukrainian war has placed healthcare professionals (HPs) in Ukraine in a position of heightened responsibility and vulnerability. This study aimed to evaluate HPs' perceptions of the war's impact on their work, their expectations regarding management recognition of their situation, and to assess levels of psychological safety and incidents of bullying within their teams. Two open-ended questions were used to explore HP's perceptions of the war's impact on their work and their expectations from management. Psychological safety and bullying were assessed using the Safety Attitude Questionnaire-Short Form (SAQ-SF) and Negative Act Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R). 1,442 HPs participated in the study. A total of 70% reported a negative impact of the war on their work. The most expressed needs were for increased financial, moral, and emotional support from medical managers. While the majority of HPs did not report experiences of bullying, 13.1% reported frequent occurrences. Based on the SAQ-SF, job satisfaction was generally high, whereas stress recognition was low. Despite the harrowing conditions of the war in Ukraine, HPs show extraordinary commitment to their profession and experience high levels of job satisfaction. However, there is an unmet need for increased moral and emotional support from medical leaders and financial assistance to counter the increase in cost of living, as these are the most pressing issues for HPs. Overall, these results suggest that the role of the management in addressing these challenges to improve psychological safety may be essential. •70% of healthcare professionals perceived the war's impact on their work negatively.•Their primary needs are financial and emotional support.•Job satisfaction remained high despite the war.•Most healthcare professionals did not experience workplace bullying.•Management perception requires improvement.