The Relationship between Illness Perception, Obsessive Beliefs and General Health in patients referring to Corona virus (COVID-19) Diagnosis

The crisis of corona disease has been effective in various ways, including physical, emotional, economic, social and psychological. Which is one of the most important psychological variables is general health. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between illness perception, obsessive beliefs and general health in patients referred to medical centers to diagnose corona virus.

It is a non-experimental and correlation research. The statistical population was all those who referred to the four medical centers of Tehran province in 2020-2021, they were diagnosed with COVID-19 disease. Of these, 384 participants were selected by multistage cluster sampling. They answered all questionnaires for illness perception, general health, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

SEM structural equation modeling was used for evaluation. A combination of fitness indicators was used to determine the suitability of the proposed pattern with the data. Bootstrap method was also used to investigate intermediate relationships. The findings show that the research model is appropriate and that general health mediates the relationship between illness perception and obsessive beliefs.

According to the findings, with increasing the level of illness perception, general health increases and obsessive beliefs decrease. Therefore, strengthening the perception of the disease in order to help general health and reduce obsessive beliefs can help improve patients. Therefore, raising awareness of the illness perception as an important strategy in therapeutic and educational interventions seems essential.