The Mediating Role of Covid-19 Attitudes in the Relation of Health Literacy with Citizens’ Health Behaviors during Pandemic Covid-19 (Case Study: 15-65-year-old Citizens in Ahvaz)
Journal Title: Strategic Research on Social Problems in Iran - Year 2021, Vol 10, Issue 3
Abstract
Introduction In the last two years, due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences for the society, such issues as health behavior have attracted the thinkers and experts’ attention. The health behavior includes the activities performed to prevent or diagnose diseases and improve health. This concept like other phenomena is influenced by many factors. In this study, the role of the variables of attitude towards Covid-19 and health literacy in Ahvaz citizens’ health behaviors were investigated. The main aim was to study the mediating role of attitudes towards Covid-19 in the relationship between health literacy and the citizens’ health behaviors. Materials & Methods This research was based on a survey method. The statistical population of this study included 15-65-year-old citizens in Ahvaz City (839148 people), of whom 384 people were selected as the study sample based on Cochran's formula by using multi-stage cluster sampling method. The research instruments consisted of the Health Behavior Scale used by Lou et al. (2020), the Health Literacy questionnaire by Zareban et al. (2016), and the Attitude questionnaire by Hanawari et al. (2020). In the current study, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to estimate the reliability of the scale. The research data were analyzed by using SPSS2 and AMOS 18 software. Discussion of Results & Conclusions The results of this study indicated that the level of Ahvaz citizens’ health behaviors was higher than the average. The results of the correlation test between the variables of attitude towards Covid-19 and health-oriented behaviors were as follows: 1) There was a significant relationship between the attitudes towards Covid-19 and health behaviors in the Covid-19 pandemic period. 2) The correlation between health literacy and health behavior was significant in the Covid-19 pandemic period. The results of path analysis showed that the variables of health literacy and attitude towards Covid-19 had a high power for predicting health behavior in such a way that these two variables could explain 51% of the variance of health behavior among Ahvaz citizens. In general, it could be concluded that health literacy and attitude towards Covid-19 played a key role in improving the citizens' health behaviors. Upon comparing the beta coefficients, it could be concluded that the total effect of Covid-19 attitude was 0.679 more than that of the variable of health literacy. Consistent with this finding, the results obtained by Rinken Orib et al. (2021) revealed that the attitude towards Covid-19 prevention had a significant effect on health behavior in the Covid-19 pandemic period. The Knowledge-Attitude-Behavior (KAB) model also demonstrated that changes in the health behaviors occurred gradually. Therefore, the content of the knowledge-attitude-behavior theory was congruent with the research findings. Given the importance of health literacy and attitude towards covid-19 in the development of health behavior during corona outbreak, it is necessary to invest in the promotion of health literacy. Based on the research findings, physicians and scientific, sports, religious, and artistic reference groups in Khuzestan Province are suggested to emphasize observing social distance in the social media and networks so as to promote a responsible attitude towards Covid-19 and health behavior. It is suggested that Khuzestan Health Center set up free online and telephone counseling centers in cooperation with academic elites, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and psychologists to ameliorate the citizens’ health-promoting behaviors in the Covid-19 pandemic period. One of the limitations of the present research was the prevalence of the Covid-19 pandemic in Ahvaz at the time of data collection. This limitation was partially overcome by teaching how to collect the data in corona conditions and observing health protocols when collecting data.
Authors and Affiliations
Ali Boudaghi * Assistant Professor, Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran A. Boudaghi@scu. ac. ir Ali Arabi Assistant Professor, Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran A. Arabi@scu. ac. ir
Keywords
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- EP ID EP704980
- DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.22108/srspi.2021.130196.1729
- Views 91
- Downloads 0
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