Disaster Risk Perception of Health Sciences Faculty Members: The Case of Gümüşhane University

Objective: This study was conducted in a cross-sectional and descriptive design to determine the disaster risk perception levels of academic staff working in the field of health sciences.Methods: The study population consisted of faculty members employed at the Faculty of Health Sciences and Health Services Vocational Schools of Gümüşhane University, and 44 academics were included in the study on a voluntary basis. Data were collected using the Disaster Risk Perception Scale, which consists of 25 items and five sub-dimensions (exposure/impact, possibility, uncontrollability, fear/worry, and vulnerability). The data were analyzed using parametric tests and multiple comparison methods.Results: According to the findings, indicating that participants’ disaster risk perception was above the moderate level and showed a high tendency. Analyses based on demographic variables revealed that only gender created a statistically significant difference in the fear/worry sub-dimension (p<0.05), with women reporting higher scores than men. No significant differences were found in terms of age, academic title, years of service, or institutional affiliation. Statistical analysis conducted to determine differences among sub-dimensions indicated a significant variation between dimensions (χ²=69.09; p<0.001), and certain sub-dimensions were found to be more dominant than others.Conclusion: The findings demonstrate that disaster risk perception among health academics has a multidimensional structure and exhibits gender-based differentiation particularly in the emotional dimension.