ABSTRACT
Background: Adoption of protective health behaviors is extremely important to prevent the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the influencing factors on adopting preventive behaviors during COVID-19 using health belief model (HBM) among the urban population in Maragheh, a city from North West of Iran. Methods: We investigated 383 people via an online questionnaire from December 5 to 11, 2020. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed with an experts' panel of 10 health professionals, and its reliability was 0.74 through Cronbach's alpha. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to analyze data. Results: The self-efficacy (17.1 +/- 2.5) and perceived benefits (5.7 +/- 0.5) were evaluated at a high level. The health behavior was also appraised with a high mean score (21.2 +/- 3.2). Among the components of the health belief model, perceived risk, self-efficacy, perceived benefits, and perceived barriers, and among demographic variables, gender and marital status were the predictors of protective behaviors against COVID-19. Conclusions: Self-efficacy, perceived benefits, and perceived risk increased the incidence of protective behavior by 69% and 30%, respectively, and perceived barriers decreased it by 0.07%. Strengthening the ability to adopt protective behaviors and improving the public's perception of the effectiveness of these behaviors can be useful.
ABSTRACT
Background: The awareness of people’s health knowledge and behavior on COVID-19 has helped education and health promotion policies, and examination of people’s opinions on governance measures against this disease will guide policymakers in making more decisions and responsiveness. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate people’s knowledge and behaviors toward COVID-19 and their views on adopted public policies against this disease in Maragheh, a city in the Northwest of Iran. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional, analytical study that was done in urban areas of Maragheh from 13 November to 20 De-cember 2020. The sample size was estimated at 672 participants, and the sampling method was stratified random. The data collec-tion instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire that consisted of four sections: demographic information, health behaviors, respondent’s knowledge of COVID-19, and their viewpoints on adopted public policies against this disease and was shared online. The one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression were used to analyze data with SPSS version 23. Results: The mean scores of people’s knowledge (6.42 ± 1.2) out of 9 and health behaviors (34.8 ± 3.9) of 36 were moderate. The majority of respondents had high levels of knowledge and also behavior about keeping the physical distance (98.5%) and proper handwashing (97.9%). Knowledge (β = 0.23) and male (β =-0.27) were the predictors of health behaviors (p < 0.001, F = 12.47). The investigation of myths on COVID-19 indicated that 17% and 41.1% of the respondents believed that alcohol consumption and using garlic and herbal drinks are effective in the prevention and 57.7% of them believed that holding the breath for 10 seconds is a sign of being healthy. People’s views on the COVID-19 control policies were assessed to be at the medium level (48.2 ± 7.5) of 65. The most effective policies against COVID-19 from the people’s opinions consisted of lockdown policies (96.4%), schools’ closure (95.9%), and constraints on intercity trips (91.3%). Conclusions: It seems necessary to strengthen measures on health knowledge promotion and implementation of health education interventions on protective behaviors of COVID-19 in such a way that right beliefs are replaced with wrong ones. Based on positive public opinions on Lockdown interventions, re-applying these policies is recommended to get the cities out of the high-risk situa-tion. © 2021, Author(s).
ABSTRACT
Objective: The objectives of this study were to measure the global impact of the pandemic on the volumes for intravenous thrombolysis (IVT), IVT transfers, and stroke hospitalizations over 4 months at the height of the pandemic (March 1 to June 30, 2020) compared with two control 4-month periods. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic led to widespread repercussions on the delivery of health care worldwide. Design/Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, observational, retrospective study across 6 continents, 70 countries, and 457 stroke centers. Diagnoses were identified by ICD-10 codes and/or classifications in stroke center databases. Results: There were 91,373 stroke admissions in the 4 months immediately before compared to 80,894 admissions during the pandemic months, representing an 11.5% (95%CI,-11.7 to-11.3, p<0.0001) decline. There were 13,334 IVT therapies in the 4 months preceding compared to 11,570 procedures during the pandemic, representing a 13.2% (95%CI,-13.8 to-12.7, p<0.0001) drop. Interfacility IVT transfers decreased from 1,337 to 1,178, or an 11.9% decrease (95%CI,-13.7 to-10.3, p=0.001). There were greater declines in primary compared to comprehensive stroke centers (CSC) for stroke hospitalizations (-17.3% vs-10.3%, p<0.0001) and IVT (-15.5% vs-12.6%, p=0.0001). Recovery of stroke hospitalization volume (9.5%, 95%CI 9.2-9.8, p<0.0001) was noted over the two later (May, June) versus the two earlier (March, April) months of the pandemic, with greater recovery in hospitals with lower COVID-19 hospitalization volume, high volume stroke center, and CSC. There was a 1.48% stroke rate across 119,967 COVID-19 hospitalizations. SARS-CoV-2 infection was noted in 3.3% (1,722/52,026) of all stroke admissions. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a global decline in the volume of stroke hospitalizations, IVT, and interfacility IVT transfers. Primary stroke centers and centers with higher COVID19 inpatient volumes experienced steeper declines. Recovery of stroke hospitalization was noted in the later pandemic months, with greater recovery in hospitals with lower COVID-19 hospitalizations, high volume stroke centers, and CSCs.