Relationship between Spiritual Health and Religious Beliefs with the Preventive Behaviors of COVID-19 Based on the Health Belief Model

Preventive behavior is the best way to control COVID-19 disease. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the relationship between spiritual health and religious beliefs with the preventive behavior of COVID-19, based on the health belief model.

The present study is a descriptive cross-sectional study performed on 400 citizens of Shiraz, Iran, who were selected through available sampling. For data collection, questionnaires of demographic variables, health belief model, Ellison’s spiritual well-being scale, and God lucus of health control scale were used. The collected data was analyzed in SPSS software (version 22) using descriptive and analytical statistical tests.

The mean age of participants was 36.95 ± 10.52 years. Around 61% of the participants were women and 27% of them had university education. Correlation coefficient test showed a significant correlation between COVID-19 preventing behaviors and the structures of health belief model, spiritual well-being, and God's place in health control (P<0.05). The constructs of perceived benefits, spiritual health (existential and religious), God's place in health control, perceived sensitivity, and self-efficacy were the strongest predictors of behavior (P<0.05). In regression analysis, the studied variables predicted 64.6% of the variance of COVID-19 preventive behaviors.

The results of this study showed the relationship between spiritual health and religious beliefs with COVID-19 preventive behaviors, based on the health belief model. It should be mentioned that in carrying out an educational intervention to prevent the COVID-19 disease using the health belief model, spiritual health, and religious beliefs of people should be considered.