Assessing COVID-19 preventive behaviours using the health belief model: A Sri Lankan study

OBJECTIVE: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is turning out to be one of the most severe public health crises in recent history. Promoting preventive behaviour among the public is of paramount importance to effectively contain the disease. Hence, this research attempts to identify factors that affect preventive behaviour against COVID-19. METHODS: The Health Belief Model (HBM), which outlines how perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, and health motivation affect individuals’ health behaviour, served as the theoretical basis of the study. As the outcome measure of the study was cues to action against COVID-19, a regression analysis was conducted to explore how the aforementioned HBM constructs influence the cues to action. The data were collected using an online survey with a total of 307 respondents. RESULTS: The results revealed that perceived benefits (0.395, p < 0.001), self-efficacy (0.405, p < 0.001), and general health motivation (0.313, p < 0.001) had significant positive impacts on the cues to action taken to prevent COVID-19, whereas perceived barriers (−0.097, p < 0.05) had a significant negative impact. The statistical analysis further revealed that the cues to action taken to prevent COVID-19 were not significantly influenced by perceived susceptibility and perceived severity. CONCLUSION: The study reinstates the usability of the HBM in exploring health behaviour. Importantly, the study findings suggest that by informing the public of the benefits of prevention and general health motivation, and by encouraging self-efficacy and eliminating the barriers to prevention, preventive actions against COVID-19 can be effectively promoted.