Assessment of Factors Related to COVID-19 Preventive Health Behaviours Using a Health Belief Model

Valentīna Krūmiņa; Kristīne Mārtinsone; Viktorija Perepjolkina

doi:10.2478/prolas-2024-0009

Abstract

Non-pharmaceutical interventions, including physical distancing, hand hygiene, mask wearing, are some of the most effective public health interventions against COVID-19 spread. Adoption of these measures can vary in different countries and even in different populations within a country. The goal of our study was to investigate factors that influence adoption of these preventive health behaviours in the Latvian population within the Health Belief Model framework, while also expanding on the models cues to action dimension by testing if evaluation of COVID-19-related government actions and belief in COVID-19 related conspiracy theories could be used as such. Our quantitative cross-sectional study that was carried out in Latvia before the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic included two samples of major population language groups (nLatvian = 452; nRussian = 190) and showed differences that could potentially improve adoption of preventive health behaviours in Latvia if regarded in informing and educating the public. It was also found that evaluation of COVID-19-related government actions has statistically significant impact on preventive health behaviour and could be used as cues to action within the HBM, while belief in COVID-19-related conspiracy theories had no association with preventive health behaviour.

References

Allington, D., Duffy, B., Wessely, S., Dhavan, N., Rubin, J. (2020). Health-protective behaviour, social media usage and conspiracy belief during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Psychol. Med., 51 (10), 1763–1769. https://doi.org/10.1017/S003329172000224X.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Bierwiaczonek, K., Gundersen, A. B., Kunst, J. R. (2022). The role of conspiracy beliefs for COVID-19 health responses: A meta-analysis. Curr. Opin. Psychol., 46, 101346. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101346.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Bish, A., Michie, S. (2010). Demographic and attitudinal determinants of protective behaviours during a pandemic: A review. Brit. J. Health Psychol., 15 (4), 797–824. https://doi.org/10.1348/135910710X485826.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Callaghan, T., Lueck, J. A., Trujillo, K. L., Ferdinand, A. O. (2021). Rural and urban differences in COVID-19 prevention behaviors. J. Rural Health, 37 (2), 287–295. https://doi.org/10.1111/jrh.12556.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Centrālā statistikas pārvalde (2019). 60,8 % Latvijas iedzīvotāju dzimtā valoda ir latviešu [The native language of the population of Latvia is Latvian]. https://stat.gov.lv/lv/statistikas-temas/izglitiba-kultura-zinatne/izglitibas-limenis/preses-relizes/1911-608-latvijas.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
DeSalvo, N., Lacasse, K., Jackson, T. E. (2022). Gender norms shape perceived threat to self and others and mask wearing behavior in response to COVID-19. Translat. Issues Psychol. Sci., 8 (3), 311–322. https://doi.org/10.1037/tps0000328.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Dohle, S., Wingen, T., Schreiber, M. (2020). Acceptance and adoption of protective measures during the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of trust in politics and trust in science. Soc. Psychol. Bull., 15 (4). https://doi.org/10.32872/spb.4315.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Earnshaw, V. A., Eaton, L. A., Kalichman, S. C., Brousseau, N. M., Hill, E. C., Fox, A. B. (2020). COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, health behaviors, and policy support. Translat. Behav. Med., 10 (4), 850–856. https://doi.org/10.1093/tbm/ibaa090.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
ECDC (2021). Non-pharmaceutical interventions against COVID-19. https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19/prevention-and-control/nonpharmaceutical-interventions.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Garfin, D. R., Fischhoff, B., Holman, E. A., Silver, R. C. (2021). Risk perceptions and health behaviors as COVID-19 emerged in the United States: Results from a probability-based nationally representative sample. J. Exper. Psychol. Appl., 27 (4), 584–598. https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000374.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Guo, Y., Qin, W., Wang, Z., Yang, F. (2021). Factors influencing social distancing to prevent the community spread of COVID-19 among Chinese adults. Prevent. Med., 143, 106385. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106385.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Haischer, M. H., Beilfuss, R., Hart, M. R., Opielinski, L., Wrucke, D., Zirgaitis, G., Uhrich, T. D., Hunter, S. K. (2020). Who is wearing a mask? Gender-, age-, and location-related differences during the COVID-19 pandemic. PlosOne, 15 (10), e0240785. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240785.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Han, Q., Zheng, B., Cristea, M., Agostini, M., Bélanger, J., Gützkow, B., Kreienkamp, J., Leander, N. (2021). Trust in government regarding COVID-19 and its associations with preventive health behaviour and prosocial behaviour during the pandemic: A cross-sectional and longitudinal study. Psychol. Med., 53 (1), 149–159. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291721001306.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Howard, M. C. (2021). Gender, face mask perceptions, and face mask wearing: Are men being dangerous during the COVID-19 pandemic? Personal. Indiv. Diff., 170, 110417. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110417.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Hughes, J. P., Efstratiou, A., Komer, S. R., Baxter, L. A., Vasiljevic, M., Leite, A. C. (2022). The impact of risk perceptions and belief in conspiracy theories on COVID-19 pandemic-related behaviours. PLoS One, 17 (2), e0263716. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263716.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Hutchins, H. J., Wolff, B., Leeb, R., Ko, J. Y., Odom, E., Willey, J., Friedman, A., Bitsko, R. H. (2020). COVID-19 mitigation behaviors by age group — United States, April–June 2020. Morbid. Mortal. Weekly Rep. (MMWR), 69 (43), 1584–1590. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6943e4.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Kasl, S. V., Cobb, S. (1966). Health behavior, illness behavior, and sick-role behavior. Arch. Environ. Health Int. J., 12 (4), 531–541. https://doi.org/10.1080/00039896.1966.10664421.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Kim, H. K., Tandoc, E. C. (2021). Wear or not to wear a mask? Recommendation inconsistency, government trust and the adoption of protection behaviors in cross-lagged TPB models. Health Commun., 37 (7), 833–841. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2020.1871170.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Kim, J. K., Crimmins, E. M. (2020). Age differences in the relationship between threatening and coping mechanisms and preventive behaviors in the time of COVID-19 in the United States: Protection Motivation Theory. Res. Psychother., 23 (3), 239–246. https://doi.org/10.4081/ripppo.2020.485.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Krumina, V., Kazaka, K., Martinsone, K., Perepjolkina, V., Rancans, E. (2022). Development and psychometric testing of five scales for COVID-19 related measures within Health Belief Model. [Oral presentation]. Rīga Stradiņš University International Student Conference in “Health and Social Sciences” 24–25 March 2022, Riga, Latvia. https://isc.rsu.lv/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/RSU-ISC-2022-Abstract-book-Health-Sciences.pdf.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Lalot, F., Heering, M. S., Rullo, M., Travaglino, G. A., Abrams, D. (2022). The dangers of distrustful complacency: Low concern and low political trust combine to undermine compliance with governmental restrictions in the emerging Covid-19 pandemic. Group Proc. Intergroup Relat., 25 (1), 106–121. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430220967986.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Luo, Y., Cheng, Y., Sui, M. (2021). The moderating effects of perceived severity on the generational gap in preventive behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. Int. J. Environ. Res. Publ. Health, 18 (4), 2011. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18042011.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Rattay, P., Michalski, N., Domanska, O.M., Kaltwasser, A., DeBock, F., Wieler, L. H., Jordan, S. (2021). Differences in risk perception, knowledge and protective behaviour regarding COVID-19 by education level among women and men in Germany. Results from the COVID-19 Snapshot Monitoring (COSMO) study. PlosOne, 16 (5), e0251694. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251694.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Romano, J. L., Israelashvili, J., Becker, M. S., Israelashvili, M. (2022). COVID-19 prevention — global research study of relevance to psychology and health. Int. Persp. Psychol. Res. Pract. Consult., 11 (2), 112–124. https://doi.org/10.1027/2157-3891/a000039.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Romer, D., Hall Jamieson, K. (2020). Conspiracy theories as barriers to controlling the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. Soc. Sci. Med., 263, 113356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113356.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Skinner, C. S., Tiro, J., Champion, V. L. (2015). The Health Belief Model. In: K. R. Glanz et al. (eds.). Health Behavior: Theory, Research and Practice.5th ed. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. 512 pp.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Van Mulukom, V., Pummerer, L. J., Alper, S., Bai, H., Cavojava, V., Farias, J., Kay, C. S., Lazarevic, L. B., Lobato, E. J. C., Marinthe, G., Banai, I. P., Srol, J., Zezelj, I. (2022). Antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: A systematic review. Soc. Sci. Med., 301, 114912. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114912.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article

Assessment of Factors Related to COVID-19 Preventive Health Behaviours Using a Health Belief Model

Abstract

Paradigm

My account