Factors associated with preventive behaviors of COVID-19 among adolescents: Applying the health belief model

Abstract

Background The emergence of a new pandemic caused by a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is a unique challenge for public health (all age and sex groups). Objective This study aimed to explore the adolescents’ perceptions of preventive behaviors to avoid COVID-19 disease based on the health belief model (HBM). Method This cross-sectional study was conducted on 797adolescents (aged between 12-18 years old), who were 7 th -12 th -grade students of 24 randomly selected schools from 28 th May to 28 th June 2020 in Isfahan, Iran. An online self-administered questionnaire was adapted to measure the adolescents’ perceived threats, barriers, benefits, self-efficacy, and cues to action toward protective behaviors. Results Findings indicated that the adolescents' mean age was 14.7 (SD=1.7) and 53.7% of them were female. Regardless of gender difference, there was a significant positive correlation between the adolescents’ protective behaviors and their self-efficacy (r=0.62, P<0.001), perceived benefit (r=29, P<0.001), and perceived severity (r=0.15, P<0.001), while there was a significant negative correlation between the adolescents’ protective behaviors and their perceived susceptibility (r=-0.11, P<0.001), as well as their perceived barrier (r=-0.21, P<0.001). The result of the Hierarchical regression analysis also revealed that the HBM model had a significant predictive power for preventing measures towards coronavirus disease in adolescents (Adj R 2 = 0.46, p<0.001). The results also showed that self-efficacy was the strongest predictor (β=0.59, P<0.001) in explaining protective behaviors in adolescents. Conclusion In the context of coronavirus disease pandemic in adolescents, the health belief model could provide a useful framework for planners to develop educational programs. Moreover, in such a context, strategies to promote self-efficacy in adolescents should be considered more carefully to help them improve their protective behaviors.

The Moderating Effects of Perceived Severity on the Generational Gap in Preventive Behaviors during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the U.S.

“…As both dependent variables were measured using multi-item, continuous scales (see Table 2 for details), linear regression (OLS) models were appropriate [34], and are commonly adopted in public health research [30,35]. Therefore, OLS models were performed to test all the hypotheses.…”

“…Thus, following previous research [29,30] that measured perceived severity as a multi-item scale, this study captured this variable using three items including "I believe that COVID-19 is a deadly disease", "I believe that COVID-19 can bring severe health problems", and "I believe that COVID-19 is a serious threat to my health". Based on past research that composed an index of precautionary behaviors [30][31][32], preventive actions was captured by using six items measuring the degree to which participants were likely to clean hands, wear a face mask outside, limit outdoor activities, avoid attending mass gathering, keep social distance with others, and avoid contact with people who are sick, respectively. A similar approach was also used to measure COVID information, using multiple items displayed in Table 2.…”

Face Mask Use Among Commercial Drivers During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Accra, Ghana

“…Such relaxation of health behavior is not unique to this study. According to [37], most of Iranian adolescents typically underestimate their risk perception of being infected by the COVID-19 virus. Similarly in China [38], report that drug supply and patients' compliance in quarantined communities have faced lots of challenges months after the disease outbreak.…”

Predicting Covid-19 Vaccination Intention: The Role of Health Belief Model of Muslim Societies in Yogyakarta

“…Oleh karena itu penulis dalam penelitian ini berusaha dan bertujuan untuk meneliti terkait minat vaksin covid-19. Jika penelitianpenelitian yang ada sebelumnya hanya berfokus pada peran kepercayaan sosial (Liu & Yang, 2020), religiusitas (Olagoke et al, 2021), personal informasi, dan media massa (Sengupta & Wang, 2014), maka dalam penelitian ini Health Belief Model (HBM) yang memiliki empat konstruksi utama, yaitu kerentanan yang dirasakan, keparahan yang dirasakan, manfaat yang dirasakan, dan hambatan yang dirasakan (Alhalaseh et al, 2020;Araban et al, 2017;Fathian-Dastgerdi et al, 2021;Shahrabani & Benzion, 2012;Sulat et al, 2018) akan menjadi prediktor minat vaksinasi covid-19. Dalam kasus covid-19, penelitian yang ada sebelumnya hanya berfokus meneliti determinan prediktor minat vaksin covid-19 menggunakan konsep seperti Self-Determination Theory dan Willingness to Pay (WTP) (Zampetakis & Melas, 2021).…”