Predictors of covid 19 disease prevention behaviors in rural population: application Extended Parallel Process Model (threat assessment and coping)

The covid-19, in recent years, has been the most important health threat and underdeveloped rural populations are more vulnerable to disease, including death. This study was conducted aimed the investigating the preventive Covid19 behaviors according to Extended Parallel Process Model in rural populations.

This cross-sectional study was conducted from April to September 2022 on 900 villagers’ population with 18-65 years old ages in Sistan region using a multi-stage random sampling method. The data were collected by a questionnaire whose validity and reliability were confirmed by a specific expert panel and Cronbach's alpha test. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentage), and analytical statistics (chi-square tests, independent t test, and Pearson correlation coefficient test and linear regression) in SPSS software version 21.

The Participants in the terms of knowledge, the perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, self-efficacy, perceived response efficacy, and behavior erned respectively, the 86.75, 81.49, 81.91, 78.85, 79.74, and 82.86 percent of the total scores. The majority of subjects (54.6%) were in the fear control process, and the perceived efficiency predicted 12% of the Covid-19 preventive behaviors (p<0/05).

The results showed that the participants had a weaker coping appraisal than the threat appraisal and the majority of them were in the process of fear control. Therefore, in order to encourage people to take preventive measures against the disease, it is necessary to carry out educational interventions in order to improve the appraisal of coping.