Association between Fear of COVID-19 with Self-care Behaviors in Elderly: A Cross- Sectional Study.

ABSTRACT

This study aims to determine the association between fear of COVID-19 with self-care in the elderly. This is a cross-sectional study, in which data were collected using the online survey method with three questionnaires social demographic characteristics, fear of COVID-19, and elderly self-care. The 350 elderly people were selected by multi-stage sampling from the list of households registered in the integrated health system. According to the result, the mean (SD) age of participants was 69.91 (5.19) and two-thirds of them were married, also the majority of the participants (55%) had an education level less than a diploma. A direct and statistically significant correlation was observed between fear of COVID-19 and self-care. Linear regression analysis showed that the self-care rate decreases with increasing of the COVID-19 fear (B = -0.395, SE = 0.001, R2 = 0.154). The lowest scores were related to self-care which can be due to the restrictions applied and limited family relations during the COVID-19 epidemic. Therefore, it is recommended that purposeful training programs and appropriate psychological support interventions are developed to help overcome COVID-19 fear and help elderly people use preventative behaviors.