Antecedents of self-protective behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh.

Context: Self-protective behavior (SPB) plays a significant role in controlling the spread of infection of a pandemic like coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Little research has been conducted to examine critical factors influencing SPB, especially in a developing country like Bangladesh. Aims: This study aimed to develop and test a theoretical model based on the extended information-motivation-behavior (IMB) skills model to investigate factors associated with SPB among Bangladeshi people. Methods: An online, cross-sectional survey was conducted on Bangladesh citizens (18 years and older) from June 1 and July 31, 2020. A total of 459 responses were used to assess the proposed model's overall fit and test the hypothesized relationships among the model constructs. Statistical Analysis Used: The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling to identify relationships among model variables. Results: Health information-seeking behavior, health motivation, self-efficacy, and health consciousness (HC) (P < 0.05) had a significant impact on SPB among Bangladeshi people. The results identified the consequences of various degrees of HC on SPB in the COVID-19 outbreak. Conclusions: This study confirms the IMB model's applicability for analyzing SPB among people in developing countries like Bangladesh. The findings of this study could guide policymakers to develop and implement targeted strategies to ensure timely and transparent information for motivating people to improve SPB during the COVID-19 and in case of a future outbreak of an epidemic.

Comparison of the young aged and elderly female users' adoption of mHealth services.

The authors' aim in this study was to investigate the factors influencing the adoption of mHealth services between the young aged and the elderly female in Bangladesh. Using the extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with three additional latent variables, i.e., perceived reliability, price value and technology anxiety, the proposed model was empirically examined based on the required data from a total survey of 542 respondents. Researchers revealed that perceived usefulness had significant impact on behavioral intention for both the young aged and the elderly female but perceived ease of use was insignificant for both groups. Perceived reliability and price value were found to have strong impact on actual usage. But the effect of technology anxiety was significant for elderly female but insignificant for young-aged female due to age characteristics. Therefore, this study is the first initiative to compare the adoption factors between young aged and elderly female in Bangladesh.