مجله دانشگاه علوم پزشکی بیرجند (Jun 2024)
Study of Corvid-19 anxiety and other factors affecting the Corvid-19 preventive behaviors in the clients of comprehensive health centers in Birjand: Short Communication
Abstract
The most important way to control COVID-19, with high contagiousness and no specific treatment, is prevention. Due to the lack of a similar study, this research aimed to assess Covid-19 anxiety and the factors affecting the preventive behaviors of Covid-19 from the perspective of clients referring to the comprehensive health centers according to the social and cultural beliefs of the region. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 400 patients referring to comprehensive health centers of Birjand during the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2022. In this study, after obtaining informed consent from the clients, a researcher-made questionnaire regarding COVID-19 preventive behaviors, the COVID-19 anxiety scale, and the demographic information checklist were completed by participants. The most preventive behavior in the studied clients was wearing a mask when leaving home. The mean score of preventive behavior in women was significantly higher than that of men (P<0.001), and the mean score of preventive behavior according to the occupation of the clients was significantly different from each other (P=0.010). There was a positive and significant relationship between the anxiety score and preventive behavior of subjects, with a correlation coefficient of 0.321 (P<0.001). The correlation coefficient between risk perception and preventive behavior against Covid-19 was 0.325, while between vulnerability and preventive behavior, it was 0.333. Considering the relationship between anxiety and preventive behavior of individuals, it is possible to promote preventive behavior in individuals by increasing the awareness and appropriate information about the serious complications of the disease, as well as the ways of transmission through the national media and cyberspace.
