ASSESSMENT OF QUALITY OF LIFE OF MILITARY PERSONNEL DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Authors:   Northern State Medical University, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Arkhangelsk. Russia, Shapovalov P.Yu. , Zykova N.V. ,   Northern State Medical University, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Arkhangelsk. Russia, Dybin A.S. ,   Northern State Medical University, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Arkhangelsk. Russia
Published: January 2023

One of the important indicators characterizing current level of the Armed Forces development is life quality of military personnel. The pandemic of the new coronavirus infection Sars-CoV-2, (hereinafter referred to as NCI) affects all spheres of human life, and therefore it is relevant to study its impact on quality of life of military personnel. The purpose of the study: to give a comprehensive assessment of life quality of military personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic. Material and methods. In February-March 2022, analytical, cross-sectional study was conducted using individual data. A survey was conducted in a group of 374 military personnel serving under contract in Severodvinsk. The research tool was a short version of the WHO Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) with an additional block of questions associated with the COVID-19. To describe data, the median and interquartile range (25th and 75th percentiles) were calculated. To compare indicators between several groups of military personnel, analysis of variance using the Kraskel-Wallis criterion was used. The nonparametric Mann-Whitney criterion and Spearman correlation criterion were used to compare the variables. Assessment of impact of quality of life on social well-being was carried out by constructing a linear regression model with the inclusion as independent parameters of answers to the passport (personal details) part of the questionnaire and answers to questions related to previous diseases, by a step-by-step method of selecting criteria, using F-statistics as a selection method with an inclusion value of less than 0.05 and an exclusion value of more than 0.1. Differences were taken as reliable with a probability of error of the first type of less than 5% (p<0.05). Statistical data processing was performed using the IBM SPSS Statistics ver. 25 for Windows application software package. Results. The highest score was given to the sphere characterizing physical and mental well-being (82.8%), while the lowest score was given to the sphere characterizing social well-being (75.0%), the median of the overall assessment of quality of life equaled to 103.00, the interquartile range [96.00; 108.00], the share in the highest assessment equaled to 79.2%. A posteriori analysis showed statistically significant differences in the field of self-perception between groups of servicemen who are officially married and divorced (U=2475.5, p=0.004) and in the field of microsocial support (U=2408.5, p=0.001), and in the field of social well-being between groups of servicemen who indicated in the questionnaire 12 to 20 thousand rubles as income per family member per month and those with income of more than 30 thousand rubles (U=3070.5, p=0.003). The main determinants of the sphere of social well-being of quality of life include importance of self-perception of the effectiveness of vaccination against COVID-19, side effects related to vaccination against COVID-19 and side effects associated with the new coronavirus infection. Conclusion. The study on quality of life of military personnel is a necessary component in the military healthcare system, since it allows us to quantify a subjective indicator that combines major areas of interaction with external environment and internal state of a serviceman, which directly depends upon his state of health. The obtained data indicate a statistically significant impact of the factors associated with COVID-19 on quality of life of military personnel. The study has identified a statistically significant inverse effect of side effects associated with NCI disease on responses to the question about finances to meet their needs, as well as a statistically significant inverse effect of side effects associated with vaccination from COVID-19 on responses to the question about satisfaction with conditions of the place of residence.