Evaluation of Coronavirus Preventive Behaviors Among Women Referring to Comprehensive Health Service Centers in Isfahan Based on Protection Motivation Theory (Iran)

Background and Objectives: The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has caused an extraordinary situation in the world since the end of 2019, which led to an unprecedented social, political and economic crisis. Currently, the most important way to deal with this pandemic is to fully comply with health protocols along with general vaccination, which is necessary to raise public awareness and change people's health and social behaviors. One of the models of health education and health promotion is the model of protection motivation, which in this study, based on this model, the preventive behaviors of women in Isfahan against coronavirus are evaluated. Methods: The present study was a cross-sectional-analytical study designed and conducted in 2021 The study population included all women covered by comprehensive health centers in Isfahan in 2021 and the sample size was 300 people. The data were collected using two questionnaires. The first questionnaire included demographic information of the participants and the second questionnaire included the constructs of protection motivation theory. Collected data were analyzed by SPSS v. 20 software using Pearson correlation coefficient, one-way analysis of variance and linear regression. Results: Based on the findings, the correlation between perceived (inconsistent) reward structure (P‌=‌0.000, r‌=‌-0.287) and perceived cost (barriers) (P‌‌=0.000, r‌=‌-0.466) with protection motivation (Intention) is negative, indicating that the motivation for protection decreases as the perceived reward and cost increase. Among the structures, self-efficacy had the highest correlation with protection motivation (P‌=‌0.000, r‌=‌0.664). Linear regression analysis showed that 58.4% of the variance of protection motivation can be predicted by other structures, The role of reward, cost, self-efficacy and fear constructs are significant and cost structure has a stronger predictive role. Conclusion: The findings of the present study showed that the constructs of the theory of Protection motivation can well predict the intention of individuals to observe the principles of prevention, Using this theory and its structures, effective interventions can be designed and implemented to control this epidemic. In the meantime, more attention should be paid to the cost structure. Also, based on these findings, it was found that the existing barriers to the observance of preventive principles have a significant impact on the intention of individuals to follow these principles.