EXAMINING FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH COVID-19 PREVENTIVE HEALTH BEHAVIORS

Preventive health behaviors are defined as the behaviors undertaken to avoid getting sick and to minimize the effects of the illness. Preventive health behaviors that vary according to each illness are affected by different psychosocial variables. The aim of this study is to determine the psychosocial factors that affect preventive health behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic, for both COVID-19 patients and non-patients in Turkey, and examining the changes over time. The participants of the first wave study consisted of a total of 747 people, 372 (%48.8) of them were diagnosed with COVID-19 whereas 375 (%50.2) of them were not diagnosed with COVID-19. The second wave of the study consisted of a total of 515 participants, 264 (%51.3) of them were diagnosed with COVID-19, whereas 251 (%48.7) of them were not diagnosed with COVID-19. In addition to the Informed Consent Form; Socio-Demographic and Health Information Form and COVID-19 Preventive Health Behavior Questionnaire were given to volunteer participants via online survey link, with two months interval. As a result of the analyses, presence of chronic disease made a significant changes in the current level of adaptation to preventive health behavior for both groups. while being married and being over 46 years of age were other variables that made a significant difference in individuals diagnosed with COVID-19. In addition, it was found that belief in the effectiveness of preventive health behaviors increased over time, regardless of the state of diagnosis. It is thought that the findings will guide health practices by identifying psychosocial factors affecting the preventive health behaviors during COVID-19 pandemic, and shed light on the researchers for the future studies. Keywords COVID-19, preventive health behavior, psychosocial factors