Structural equation modeling analysis of health belief model-based determinants of COVID-19 preventive behavior of academic staff: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Despite COVID-19 being highly contagious and spreading to several countries, the university community has overlooked prevention measures. For more than five decades, the Health Belief Model (HBM) has been a widely used conceptual framework in health behavior. structural equation modeling(SEM) analysis is an advanced statistical method capable of rectifying failures of the basic models and showing complex relations Thus this study aimed to determine the magnitude of COVID-19 prevention behavior and identify its associated factors using HBM and SEM analysis.

Method: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among academic staff of the University of Gondar in Ethiopia from April 10 to May 10/2021. Daniel Soper's sample size calculator was used to determine the sample size. Proportional allocation to each campus followed by a simple random sampling technique was employed to select study subjects. A pre-tested, structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Structural equation modeling analysis was employed to show the relationship between health belief model constructs and their effect on preventive behavior.

Result: A total of 602 academic staff participated. The magnitude of good COVID-19 preventive behavior was 24.8%. The HBM explained 55% of the variance in preventive behavior. Perceived barriers (β = -0.37, p < 0.05), self-efficacy (β = 0.32, p < 0.05), perceived susceptibility (β = 0.23, p < 0.05), and perceived benefit (β = 0.16, p < 0.05) were the direct significant predictors of COVID 19 prevention behavior.

Conclusion: only a quarter of the academic staff have good COVID-19 preventive behavior. The HBM explained a great amount of variance in preventive behavior and Perceived barriers, benefits, susceptibility, and self-efficacy significantly associated with prevention behavior. Carefully planned intervention that considers those significant perceptions should be designed and implemented to raise COVID-19 prevention behavior.