Investigating Iranians’ Attitude, Practices, and Perceived Self-Efficacy towards Coronavirus Preventive Behaviors

Background and aim: Currently, one of the new health crises that has affected the world is the emergence of the novel coronavirus disease (n cov-2019). Today, most health challenges and problems are mainly due to behavioral factors and identifying these factors can play an important role in promoting public health. Therefore, this study was designed and conducted to determine Iranians’ attitude, practice, and perceived self-efficacy towards coronavirus preventive behaviors.Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted online among 387 social media users (Telegram-WhatsApp). A researcher-made questionnaire was sent to the participants after confirmation of validity and reliability by the convenience sampling method. Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Mann-Whitney, analysis of variance, Pearson correlation and linear regression tests were used to analyze the collected dataResults: The results of the Pearson test showed that there was a direct and significant correlation between the subjects’ attitude with practice (r = 0.23, p <0.001) and perceived self-efficacy (r = 0.21, p <0.001) regarding coronavirus preventive behaviors. There was also a direct and significant relationship between self-efficacy and practice (r = 0.46, p <0.001). The results of univariate regression test also showed that occupation (p=0.002, β=-0.16), marital status (p = 0.003, β=-0.15), attitude (p <0.001, b=0.23), and self-efficacy (p <0.001, β = 0.45) are predictive and influential variables on the subjects' practice towards coronavirus preventive behaviors.Conclusion: Given the importance of positive attitude and promoting self-efficacy in improving people's practice regarding coronavirus preventive behaviors, it is suggested that various educational interventions be designed and implemented to reduce the incidence and mortality of this disease.