Investigating public participation in adopting preventive health behaviors during COVID-19: a cross-sectional study in Urmia, Iran

Observing public health protocols for COVID-19 has been documented as one of the key strategies to prevent the spread of this contagious condition and mitigate its impact. The present study investigated public participation in terms of adopting preventive health behaviors during this pandemic.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed in the city of Urmia, Iran, in 2020. Two statistical populations, viz., the general population and public places, were recruited. Employing the ratio estimate formula, the sample size of the general population was determined as 2,398 individuals. Additionally, eight public places were selected from the 30 neighborhoods in the city of Urmia, via convenience sampling. The data collection tool was a researcher-made 47-item questionnaire, whose face and content validity and reliability were confirmed. The questionnaire was then completed upon visiting the selected public places in person by naturalistic concealed observation. The data were finally analyzed using the SPSS Statistics-16, with descriptive statistics.

Face mask use was at a good level in seven public places, except for restaurants and diners. Also, social distancing practices were at a moderate level in bakeries, electronic government services offices, beauty salons, public transport vehicles, and banks.

Based on the results, there is a dire need to strengthen and maintain public participation by paving the ground through running advertising campaigns, designing and implementing educational interventions for various trade guilds and jobs, conducting advisory activities, and exploiting social media to inform and train the general population.