Risk perception, attitude, and practice related to COVID-19: A cross-sectional study among 1085 Iranian healthcare workers

Romina Roshanshad; Amirhossein Roshanshad; Hossein Molavi Vardanjani; Amirali Mashhadiagha; Maryam Mobarakabadi; Armin Hoveidaei; Amir Human Hoveidaei

doi:10.1016/j.amsu.2021.102865

Risk perception, attitude, and practice related to COVID-19: A cross-sectional study among 1085 Iranian healthcare workers

Ann Med Surg (Lond). 2021 Oct:70:102865. doi: 10.1016/j.amsu.2021.102865. Epub 2021 Sep 20.

Authors

Romina Roshanshad¹, Amirhossein Roshanshad^{1

2}, Hossein Molavi Vardanjani^{2

3}, Amirali Mashhadiagha^{1

4}, Maryam Mobarakabadi⁵, Armin Hoveidaei⁶, Amir Human Hoveidaei^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ Student Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
² MPH Department, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
³ Research Center for Traditional Medicine and History of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
⁴ Health Policy Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
⁵ Neurophysiology Lab, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
⁶ Student Research Committee, School of Allied Medical Science, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁷ Students' Scientific Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Backgrounds: Healthcare workers are at risk of mental illness during COVID-19 pandemic. We investigated the level of perceived risk and adherence to preventive behaviors regarding COVID-19 among medical students and physicians.

Materials and methods: We conducted an online nationwide cross-sectional survey among Iranian physicians and medical students. We collected data regarding perceived risk, perceived stress scale (P·S·S.), attitude, practice, and information sources. We assessed the association of four main outcomes (risk perception, P·S.S. score, attitude, and practice) with demographic variables.

Results: A total of 1085 participants with an overall fear score of 6.48 ± 2.29 out of 10 filled the questionnaires. Older and more educated participants had a higher risk perception level and adherence to protective measures. In contrary, participants in lower-risk workplaces had lower risk perception scores. Main sources of information did not affect the scores of risk perception, P·S·S., and practice. Higher risk perception scores were observed in those with higher practice and P·S.S. scores.Contrary to risk perception, the P·S.S. score was not affected by many of the demographic variables, except gender. The most positive attitude was observed in individuals with a higher level of trust in governmental information sources. Participants with higher P·S.S. scores adhered more to protective measures.

Conclusion: Risk perception had the greatest impact on adherence to preventive behaviors. Therefore, policymakers should consider perceived risk as a predictor of the extension of the pandemic. Both risk perception and P·S.S. reflect the severity of fear from COVID-19; however, P·S.S. is less affected by sociodemographic and workplace characteristics.

Keywords: Attitude; Health policy; Healthcare workers; Perceived stress scale; Practice; Risk perception.