Assessment of preventive behavior and associated factors towards COVID-19 in Qellam Wallaga Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia: A community-based cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background The world is being challenged by the COVID-19 outbreak that resulted in a universal concern and economic hardship. It is a leading public health emergency across the globe in general and developing countries in particular. Strengthening good preventive behavior is the best way to tackle such pandemics. Objective The study assessed preventive behavior and associated factors towards COVID-19 among residents of Qellam Wallaga Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia, 2020. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted with a multistage sampling technique. Data were collected by interview and analyzed using SPSS version 23.0. Binomial logistic regression was used to test the association between the variables. An Adjusted Prevalence with 95% CI was used to express the associations and interpret the findings. Results Among 634 participants, 417(65.8%) were from urban residences, and 347 (54.7%) belongs to a female. Age ranges 18 years through 87 years. Only 68(10.7%) participants showed good preventive behavior for COVID-19. The majority of them (84.7%) perceived that the disease is very dangerous and 450(71.0%) of them believe that they are at high risk. More than 17% of the respondents have sufficient knowledge. Respondents with sufficient knowledge about COVID-19 were about 2 times more likely to exercise good preventive behavior compare to those with insufficient knowledge, [(APR: 2.1; 95% CI: [1.2, 3.9)]. The urban residents was 3.3 more than that of rural residents to practice good preventive behavior, [(APR: 3.3; 95% CI: [1.6, 6.4)]. Respondents who use social media as a source of information were more than 2 times more likely to have good preventive behavior compared to those who did not, [(APR: 2.3; 95% CI: [1.3, 3.4)]. Conclusion Adoptions of COVID-19 preventive behavior in the study population is very low. Due emphasis should be given to rural residents. Risk communication activities should be strengthened through effective community engagement to slow down and stop the transmssion of the disease in the community.

Assessment of practice of Covid-19 preventive measures and associated factors among residents in Southern, Ethiopia

“…Amhara Region, Ethiopia [26] that revealed individuals with underlying health conditions were more likely to adhere to Covid-19 preventive strategies. This is most probably due to the fear of Covid-19 on their health as a result of information disseminated through Media about the impact of Covid-19 on individuals with chronic illnesses [32]. Even though our study used…”

COVID-19 Preventive Behavior Practices and Determinants: A Scoping Review

“…Most of the authors of the selected studies used self-developed questionnaires to identify the implementation of COVID-19 preventive behaviors. All instruments were developed from literature or previous study and/or combining with the WHO guidelines [18], [19], [20], [21], [22] and CDC guidelines [22], [23], H1N1 epidemic [24], HIV-related surveys [25], [26], SARrelated study [13], and each Ministry of Health (MOH) guideline in each country [19], [20], [21], [22]. Moreover, only eight authors presented reliability scores of their instruments [18], [26], [27], [28], [29], [30], [31], [32] and the remaining did not provide clear information about psychometric testing.…”

“…Personal preventive measures which were well-practiced by most respondents in the selected studies are: regular handwashing [13], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [25], [29], [30], [31], [32], [33], [34], [35], [36], [37], [38], [39], [40], [41], [42] except Yehualashet et al [26], wearing face masks [13], [19], [21], [22], [23], [24], [29], [30], [31], [34], [35], [36], [38], [39], [40], [41] except 4 studies [26], [33], [37], [42], cough/sneeze etiquette [13], [20], [22], [23], [24], [26],…”

“…Immune boosting measures are related to consuming diet and lifestyle modification to improve the immune system during the pandemic. Participants showed good preventive practices such as taking vitamins [13], [35], maintaining a healthy diet [13], and cooking meat and eggs [20]. One study enlists that smoking was still performed by the participants [29].…”

Dimensions of COVID-19 Pandemic Preventive Behaviour among High School Students in Leyte and Biliran Province, the Philippines

“…A study of Lin and Chen (2021) on the role of self-esteem towards disease prevention behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic adapted four items from the work of Cooper and colleagues (2010) which initially were anchored to skin cancer prevention and preventive dental care behaviours. There is also the work of Breakwell and colleagues (2021) that attempted to measure the COVID-19 preventive behaviour index among 470 English participants aged between 18-72 years old (used 10 items), the work of Barakat and Kasemy (2020) that assessed the preventive health behaviours during COVID-19 pandemic of 182 Egyptian participants aged between 18-67 years old (used eight items), and the work of Gutu et al (2021) that attempted to assess preventive behaviour and associated factors towards COVID-19 among 634 Ethiopian participants whose mean age is 30.79 years old (used eight items). Nevertheless, these studies simply adapted items as recommended by their respective health ministries or the WHO.…”