Healthcare professionals in COVID-19: Safety, fear, and intention to leave.

The objective was to verify the fear of COVID-19 mediating role between the perception of safety at work and the intention of professionals on the frontline of COVID-19 to distance themselves from work. For this intent, 227 professionals (Mage = 33.01; SD = 7.67), mostly female (67.8%), answered the Safety Climate Scale in Hospital Work, the Intentional Behavior to Take a Leave of Absence Scale adapted to the COVID-19 context, the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, and a sociodemographic questionnaire. The safety perception in places of fight against the COVID-19 minimizes the fear of infection, consequently reducing health professionals' intention to take leaves of absence when in hospitals in the pandemic. Thus, ensuring the professionals' safety in their workplace is a protective factor of fear, so it may collaborate for the development of relevant strategies that minimize the intention to take a leave of absence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]