Pathways Improving Compliance with Preventive Behaviors during the Remission Period of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a significant threat to people’s lives. Compliance with preventive behaviors, recommended by public health authorities, is essential for infection control. In the remission stage, one year after the initial COVID-19 outbreak in China, we advanced a moderated parallel mediation model of the link between risk perception and compliance with preventive behaviors as well as a serial mediation model of the link between optimism and compliance with preventive behaviors, explaining the roles of various psychosocial factors in these associations. In January 2021, 200 participants under 50 years of age, located in 80 Chinese cities, participated in an online survey assessing risk perception, compliance with preventive behaviors, fear, anxiety, political trust, government dependency, and dispositional optimism. The results showed that the effect of risk perception on compliance with preventive behaviors was mediated by political trust and fear, and was moderated by government dependency. Anxiety and fear serially mediated the effect of optimism on compliance with preventive behaviors. Our study provided implications for future research to reduce negative emotions, strengthen confidence in the government, and sustain moderate government dependency accompanied by individual self-efficacy.

A Moderated Mediation Model Explaining the Relationship Between Risk-Group Membership, Threat Perception, Knowledge, and Adherence to COVID-19 Behavioral Measures

“…Previously, associations have typically been examined separately between risk group membership and adherence ( 12 , 15 , 16 , 43 ), risk (objective and subjective) and affective reactions such as anxiety, fear, or worry ( 18 – 20 , 22 , 23 ), as well as between such affective reactions and adherence to behavioral measures ( 14 , 23 , 25 ). Similar to initial research with a Chinese sample ( 26 ), our results show that COVID-19 threat mediates the effect of both risk group membership indicators on the examined preventive behaviors. This finding also corresponds to other studies on health decision making, which find a mediating effect of worry explaining the relationship between perceived risk and health behavior ( 44 – 46 ).…”

“…Several studies have also found relationships between anxiety, worry, fear, and behavior change or adherence to COVID-19 behavioral measures ( 14 , 23 , 25 ). Therefore, it stands to reason that individuals who perceive themselves at risk feel threatened by the virus, prompting them to adhere to behavioral measures, as supported by first evidence ( 26 ). Given the prior findings on the relation between being at risk and adherence, being at risk and anxiety, as well as anxiety and adherence in the context of COVID-19, we explore: first, whether individuals at risk of exposure to COVID-19 or severe COVID-19 infection adhere more often to COVID-19 behavioral measures and, second, whether perceived threat of COVID-19 mediates the relationship between risk group membership and adherence.…”

Diet Quality of Older African Americans: Impact of Knowledge and Perceived Threat of COVID-19

“…A systematic review of 38 international articles showed that the COVID-19 pandemic led to reductions in household food waste, improved cooking behaviors, and food consumption [ 47 ]. Other studies evaluating the effect of knowledge and/or perceived threat of COVID-19 found similar positive relationships with the adaptation of protective measures such as handwashing, social distancing, and hygiene rules [ 8 , 48 , 49 , 50 ]. Therefore, it is plausible that perception of the harm of COVID-19 and knowledge of associated risks and protective measures prompted the adoption of healthy behaviors, including the consumption of a healthy diet that contains nutrients reported to boost immunity and prevent inflammation such as vitamins B12, C, D, zinc, and iron [ 51 , 52 , 53 ].…”

Association between Mental Health and Hand Hygiene Practices in Adults with Hypertension and Diabetes during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The 2020 Korea Community Health Survey

“…Anxiety about contracting COVID-9 and death due to it may raise awareness about disease prevention and reduce the disease spread [ 34 ]. For example, patients with chronic diseases, who are anxious about contracting the infection, are likely to choose handwashing as a safety mechanism to control infection [ 35 ]. Conversely, those who reported depression had significantly poorer hand hygiene practices than those who did not.…”

“…This is the first large-scale study to report an association between mental health problems and hand hygiene practices in Korean adults with HTN and DM during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many previous studies have emphasized the need for active mental health management to enable infection prevention behavior in patients with chronic diseases [ 32 , 33 , 35 ]. Taken together, these results suggest that the negative mental health of patients with non-communicable diseases (NCD) due to the impact of COVID-19 adversely affects healthy behavior.…”