Journal Article

Preventive Behaviors Towards Covid-19 Pandemic Among Healthcare Providers in Saudi Arabia Using the Protection Motivation Theory

Zalat, Marwa, Abdel-Azeem, Amro, Al Showair, Abdulmajeed, Mortada, Eman

2021

Overview

The main objectives of the study are firstly to measure the COVID-19 preventive health behaviors related among health care providers (HCPs), then to identify the determinants of such behavior using the protection motivation theory (PMT). An online cross-sectional survey, containing closed-ended questions, was distributed among healthcare professionals including physicians, pharmacists, technicians, and nurses. It consisted of questions assessing socio-demographic and occupational characteristics, in addition to questions from the modified PMT that has been tailored for the COVID-19 pandemic through five sub-constructs: perceived severity and perceived vulnerability, response efficacy, self-efficacy, response costs, and behavioral intention. A total of 385 HCPs have participated in the study with a mean age of 40.08±8.2 years; the majority was Saudi, married, and having children. There was a significant association between intention to comply with COVID-19 preventive behavior and being females, nurses, having training in Infection prevention and control (IPC) measures, and availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) during work time (p≤0.01). Other demographic variables, working experience, the status of being in the workforce during the pandemic COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia did not have a significant effect on the intention of HCPs to comply with COVID-19 preventive behavior. The vast majority 85.7% of HCPs answered \"always\" regarding the behavioral intention of HCPs to comply with COVID-19 preventive behavior. There was a significant positive correlation between COVID-19 behavioral intention and other constructs of PMT model, including perceived severity (r=0.272) perceived vulnerability (r= 0.248), self-efficacy (r=0.218), response-efficacy (r=0.167), and response-cost (r=0.13). Gender, availability of PPE, and self-efficacy had a significant prediction of COVID-19 behavioral intentions (P <0.05) with a predicted increase of 0.56, 0.37, and 0.12, respectively, in the mean of the intention score. Self-efficacy was the highest significant predictor of the behavior (p=0.008). Females' gender, nurses, having training in IPC measures, and availability of PPE during work time have a significant association with intention to comply with COVID-19 preventive behavior. The present study coping appraisal particularly self-efficacy predicted the COVID-19 pandemic protection motivation and preventive behavior more than threat appraisal. Therefore, future training programs must consider the level of self-efficacy of HCPS, and increase their knowledge regarding the effectiveness of recommendation strategies to perform protective measures against the COVID-19.

• Publisher: Dove Medical Press Limited,Taylor & Francis Ltd,Dove Press,Dove,Dove Medical Press
• Subject: and protection motivation theory / Behavior / behavioral intention / China / coping appraisal / Coronaviruses / COVID-19 / Disease prevention / Disease transmission / Epidemics / Ethics / Health aspects / Health care / Health care industry / Health risk assessment / Medical personnel / Medical research / Original Research / Pandemics / Perceptions / Pharmacists / preventive health practice / protection motivation theory / Protective equipment / Public health / Questionnaires / Regression analysis / Sample size / Sampling techniques / Saudi Arabia / Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 / Social networks / Sociodemographics / Surveys / Technicians / threat appraisal / Training