Study of the Sudanese perceptions of COVID-19: Applying the Health Belief Model

Abstract

Background COVID-19 a pandemic declared by WHO is the first in recent history pose challenges on public health. Health Belief Model is a psychosocial model explains and predicts health-related behaviours. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of the Sudanese on COVID-19-related preventive measures. Methods A Cross-sectional study using online-questionnaire was conducted between 1st-16th April 2020 among Sudanese adults. We used a snowball sampling technique starting from known professional and social media groups and individuals and then was distributed on various internet platforms. The survey instrument was based on HBM constructs. Results Some 877 individuals participated in the survey with a mean age of 37.8 more males mostly having a university education employed and residing in Khartoum. More than half of the participants scored high in almost all Health Belief Model constructs except for benefits of hand hygiene. The findings show that the HBM constructs are correlated to each other as well as to other socio-demographic factors. Self-efficacy correlated negatively with susceptibility while positively with severity benefits of and barriers to hand hygiene, benefits and barriers to social distancing respectively. Conclusion The findings show that the HBM constructs are correlated to each other as well as to other socio-demographic factors. Self-efficacy must be taken into account as a strong changing factor to susceptibility and severity perceptions. Correlations found in this study might help drive behaviour-changing efforts.

Self-efficacy for taking Preventive Measures against COVID-19 among Undergraduate University Students in Saudi Arabia

“…Slightly more than one-fifth of the students had low SE for managing the pandemic. These results agree with the findings of Nasir et al (2020) 15 who examined the perception of COVID-19 among a Sudanese population and reported that onethird of the participants had low SE for following preventive measures, such as hand hygiene and social distancing. In a cross-sectional study on the relationship between SE and demographic characteristics among Iranian medical students, Seyedi-Andi et al (2019) 16 reported moderate SE in a considerable proportion of the participants, and low SE in 25% of participants.…”

Social Media Use and Covid-19 Risk Perception Among Nigerians: The Roles of Affects, Gender and Information Sources

“…People perceive the risk to determine their behaviour towards health-related issues, like the decision to embrace protective actions, practise healthier lifestyles, attend clinical screenings and abide by recommended medical guidelines (Renner, Gamp, Schmalzle & Schupp, 2015). Perceived susceptibility and perceived severity are the two main dimensions of constructing risk perception (Pask & Rawlins, 2016), although other dimensions, such as perceived likelihood (Brewer et al, 2007;Wu & Li, 2017), and perceived benefits and barriers (Imoh, 2008;Mojaye, 2008;Paek & Hove, 2017) have also been proposed and widely adopted by scholars. Perceived susceptibility explains a person's subjective assessment of vulnerability to a given health problem.…”

Investigating Iranians’ Attitude, Practices, and Perceived Self-Efficacy towards Coronavirus Preventive Behaviors

“…In another study by Love et al on the H1N1 pandemic in men and women in Hong Kong, women performed better than men in preventing the disease (17), which is consistent with the results of the above study. A study in Sudan also reported that women took more preventive measures than men in protecting themselves and others against coronavirus (18). This result may be due to women's role in the family as a wife or mother, who are more motivated to protect themselves than men; therefore, they showed better self-e cacy and practice in preventing coronavirus than men.…”

“…Self-e cacy is increasingly associated with health behaviors changes and is a strong predictor of health-promoting behaviors. Regarding coronavirus, increased selfe cacy has been associated with a decrease in the virus prevalence (18).…”