Comparing the family characteristics, professional profile, and personality traits of COVID-19 volunteer and nonvolunteer frontline healthcare workers at the epicenter in Nigeria

Background: Emergency volunteering becomes a necessity in the face of unprecedented disasters like the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. There is a paucity of empirical data on volunteerism not imported from the developed countries. It became necessary to evaluate the local-bred volunteerism with its peculiarity, as it emerged within the public health sector of Nigeria's COVID-19 epicenter. Objectives: To compare the family characteristics, professional profiles, and personality traits of volunteer and nonvolunteer COVID-19 frontline healthcare workers (HCWs). To determine the significant predictors of volunteering as well as the deterrents to and motivation for volunteering. Method: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted between May and August 2020 among COVID-19 volunteer and nonvolunteer HCWs serving at the six dedicated COVID-19 isolation/treatment centers and the 27 general hospitals, respectively. Using a stratified sampling technique, three professional categories of HCWs (doctors, nurses, and medical laboratory scientists) were randomly selected from the nonvolunteers while total enumeration of volunteers was done. The survey employed pilot-tested self-administered questionnaires. The univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses were carried out with IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0. The level of statistical significance was determined by a P-value of <.05. Results: A total of 244 volunteers and 736 nonvolunteers HCWs participated in this survey. Sex, ethnicity, professional level, income level, number of years of practice, and traits of agreeableness and conscientiousness were significantly different between volunteers and nonvolunteers (P <.05). Inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE), lack of insurance, and inadequate hazard allowance deterred nonvolunteers. After regression analysis, the significant predictors of volunteerism included sex (odds ratio [OR] = 2.644; confidence interval [CI]: 1.725-4.051), ethnicity (OR = 2.557; CI: 1.551-4.214), and professional level (matrons: OR = 0.417; CI: 0.254-0.684, consultants: OR = 0.171; CI: 0.038-0.757). Conclusion: HRH crisis in the face of high-danger situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic makes it urgent for health policymakers to address the identified barriers to volunteerism in order to optimize the health outcomes of the population.