Application of the health Belief Model to assess community preventive practices against COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND: The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has affected hundreds of thousands of people across more than 200 countries. As the pandemic continues, the health agencies, worldwide, are recommending strict preventive practices to avert its transmission at community scale. We sought to predict the behavior of the Saudi population for adopting community preventive practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: An online questionnaire consisting of 22 items pertaining to the Health Belief Model constructs was used to measure the perceived susceptibility and perceived severity of contracting COVID-19, along with the perceived benefits and perceived barriers to follow the Ministry of Health’s recommendations. The outcome was assessed by their readiness to be compliant with the community protective measures. Data were analyzed using STATA at significance level of 0.05. RESULTS: A total of 900 individuals received the online survey link, of which 688 (response rate: 76.4%) respondents consented to participate in the study. The mean age of the respondents was 31.39 (SD = 8.94). Positive associations were observed between perceived susceptibility (Beta: 0.24; p value < 0.001), perceived severity (Beta: 0.16; p value < 0.001), perceived benefits (Beta: 0.41; p value < 0.001), cue to action (Beta: 2.61; p value < 0.001) and the participation in community preventive practices during the pandemic of the COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: Health belief model's constructs of perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits and cue to action can be adopted to help strengthen COVID-19 limiting behaviors and prevention programs which can delivered through community pharmacies in Saudi Arabia as well as around the world.