Level of awareness managers of medical institutions and health care bodies of Lviv Oblast regarding the theoretical foundations of non-infectious diseases (according to the results of a sociological study)

Abstract

Introduction. Since the implementation of ″Epidemiological transition concept″ (Abdel R. Omran, 1971), the predominance of non-communicative diseases (NCDs) among the population of European Union member states turned to reality that has been a heavy burden for the population, in the context of both individual and public health, as well as on life expectancy, economic and defense resources of countries. It is noteworthy that NCDs are strongly dependant on the behavior of each particular person, outlining its lifestyle due to existing risk factors. Taking into consideration total growth of NCDs in Ukraine since 1991 (the period of independence) by nNCDs = +1.5 times and their influence on the decreased count of country`s population (NNCDs = 80.3 ± 0.9 % of the total number of dead), the purpose of present investigation was to elucidate the level of awareness of Lviv Region heath care chief executives in the context of existing predominance of NCDs and its consequences. Materials and methods. General, applied, analytical-descriptive, monographic/single, medium-term, continuous sociological investigation was conducted using the elaborated “Questionnaire for studying the state of doctor`s awareness regarding the presence of non-communicative diseases in Ukraine” among post graduate students of specialization cycles and thematic improvement in the specialty “Organization and management in health care” of the Department of Public Health of the Faculty of Post Graduate Education of Danylo Halytskyi Lviv National Medical University in 2022 (∑ participants n = 327/Р = 100%) of total count of Lviv region health care chief executive officers (∑n = 392). The survey, compilation and processing of the available sociological material was carried out by the author with the research methods based on the principles of systematicity and corresponding to the Passport of the specialty 14.02.03 Social medicine. Results. It was established that М = 80.4 ± 0.3 % (n = 263) of respondents understand the essence of the concept of “Non-communicative diseases”; М = 40.1 ± 0.2 % (n = 131) of the respondents disclosed the content of the epidemiological transition from infectious to chronic diseases, which radically changed the structure of mortality by causes. The obtained results indicate that М = 98.2 ± 0.3 % (n = 321) of the respondents associated NCDs group with diseases of the circulatory system [I00-I99], while neoplasms [С00-D48] and mental and behavioral disorders [F01-F99] were attributed respectively to М = 85.0 ± 0.3 % (n = 278) of respondents and М = 75.2 ± 0.3 % (n = 246) of respondents; diabetes [E10-E14] was associated with M = 85.0 ± 0.3 % (n = 278) of respondents, while chronic diseases of the lower respiratory tract [J40-J47] were counted by M = 63.6 ± 0.2 % (n = 208) of the total number of participants (n = 327). Conclusion. The results testify low level of knowledge on the theoretical background of NCDs among the chief executives of health care institutions and bodies of Lviv region. This requires the implementation into learning curriculums of the existing departments of health care management and of clinical directions, in both pre- and post-graduate levels electives/cycles concerning the epidemiological transition concept on the predominance of non-communicative diseases (NCDs) and on its impact on current health care management to minimize negative consequences.