Background Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has become one of the biggest challenges to global health and economy. The present study aimed to explore the factors related to preventive health behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic in Khuzestan Province, South of Iran, using the Health Belief Model (HBM). Methods The present cross-sectional study was conducted in the period between July 2020 and September 2020. A total of 1090 people from Khuzestan province participated in the study. The data collection method included a multistage cluster sampling method with a random selection of provincial of health centers. The questionnaire collected socio-demographic information and HBM constructs (e.g., perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits and barriers, cues to action, and COVID-19 preventive behaviors). Data were analyzed using ANOVA, t-test, hierarchical multiple linear regression, and SPSS version 22. Results The mean age of the participants was 35.53 ± 11.53, more than half of them were female (61.6%) and married (65.3). The results showed that 27% of the variance in the COVID-19 preventive behaviors was explained by HBM constructs. The regression analysis indicated that female gender (β = 0.11), perceived benefits (β = 0.10), perceived barriers (β = − 0.18), external cues to action (β = 0.25), and internal cues to action (β = 0.12) were significantly associated with COVID-19 preventive behaviors (p < 0.05). Conclusion Designing an educational intervention on the basis of HBM might be considered as a framework for the correction of beliefs and adherence to COVID-19 behavior. Health information campaigns need to (1) emphasize the benefits of preventive behaviors including avoiding the likelihood of getting a chronic disease and complications of the disease, (2) highlight the tips and advice to overcome the barriers (3) provide cues to action by means of showing various reminders in social media (4) focusing on adoption of COVID-19-related preventive behaviors, especially among men.
Objectives: Although all jobs are stressful, professions contributing to human health are of utmost importance. Firefighting is a stressful and dangerous job where firefighters tend to have high levels of job stress. This study aims to explore occupational stress in firefighters.Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was performed in 2013. Participants comprised 244 firefighters from Yazd's and Ahvaz's fire departments. The data were collected using the HSE job stress questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS 21 software. Results:The participants' age ranged from 25 to 54 years, with a mean of 39.02 ± 7.44. The working history of the participants was 1 to 28 years, with a mean of 13.14 ± 7.17. There was a significant difference between the education and working history of participants and their stress levels (p = 0.013 and p = 0.001, respectively). Stress decreased with increasing age (p = 0.075 and r = −0.114) and working history (p = 0.071 and r = 0.116), but these variables were not statistically correlated. Conclusion:According to this study, healthcare politicians should develop training programs that focus on communication skills and staff and administrative support for fire workers. It appears that, due to the stressful job of firefighters, training programs should be designed with an emphasis on the importance of communication skills and on support from colleagues and authorities, in order to foster better health and performance in employees.
Background and objective: Diabetes mellitus is a complex chronic disease requiring appropriate continuous medical care and delayed, or forgone care may exacerbate the severity of the disease. This study aimed to investigate the factors affecting forgone care in diabetic patients.Materials and methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving 1139 patients with type 2 diabetes aged 18 years and older in East Azerbaijan. Data collected using a researcher-made questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS software version 22. Results: Of the 1139 patients, 510 patients (45%) reported forgone care during the last year. The percentage of forgoing care was higher in patients without supplementary insurance coverage (P=0.01), those with complications (P=0.01) and those with the history of hospitalization (P=0.006). The majority of patients (41.5%) reported that the most important reason for forgoing care is financial barriers resulting from disease treatment costs. Of the main four factors, quality of care had the highest impact on forgone care at 61.28±39.74, followed by accessibility (37.01±25.12), awareness and attitude towards disease (18.52±18.87) and social support (17.22±18.80).Conclusion: The results showed that, despite the implementation of the Islamic Republic of Iran on a fast-track to beating non-communicable diseases (IraPEN), a considerable number of diabetics had a history of forgoing care, and the most important reasons for forgoing care were related to the financial pressure and dissatisfaction with the quality of care. Therefore, not only more financial support programs should be carried out, but the quality of care should be improved.
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