RESEARCH ARTICLE


Health Locus of Control And COVID-19 Risk Perception Among Iranians: A Cross-Sectional Study



Mohammad Pourfridoni1, Moien AB Khan2, 3, Atousa Ghorbani4, Reza Faryabi5, Shohreh Shafiei6, Gholamreza Jahanshahi7, Yousef Baghcheghi1, Hedyeh Askarpour8, *
iD

1 Student Research Committee, Jiroft University of Medical Sciences, Jiroft, Iran
2 Health and Wellness Research Group, Department of Family Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates
3 Primary Care, NHS Northwest London, London, TW3 3EB, United Kingdom
4 Department of Biology, East Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
5 Department of Public Health, School of Public Health, Jiroft University of Medical Sciences, Jiroft, Iran
6 Vice Chancellor for Research, Jiroft University of Medical Sciences, Jiroft, Iran
7 Sirjan School of Medical Sciences, Sirjan, Iran
8 Clinical Research Development Center of Imam Khomeini Hospital, Jiroft University of Medical Sciences, Jiroft, Iran


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Creative Commons License
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Bentham Open.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Clinical Research Development Center of Imam Khomeini Hospital, Jiroft University of Medical Sciences, Jiroft, Iran; E-mail: hedyehaskarpour94@gmail.com


Abstract

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact on people's physical, mental, and emotional health. People perceive diseases differently depending on their view of the source of their health.

Objective

During the outbreak of COVID-19 among the Iranian population, this study examined the relationship between health locus of control and perceptions of COVID-19 risk.

Methods

A cross-sectional study using validated scales was conducted to assess health locus of control and perception of COVID-19 risk. A total of 480 survey responses were analyzed descriptively and inferentially using SPSS software.

Results

The mean age of participants was 22.93 ± 5.42 years. The total score of COVID-19 risk perception (CV-19RP) for all study participants was 131.61 (13.49). Also, the total score of the health locus of control was 69.74 (10.58), and the scores of its subdomains, PHLC, IHLC, and CHLC, were 23.70 (5.51), 27.60 (4.03), and 18.4 (5.39), respectively. There is a significant positive correlation between COVID-19 risk perception and the health locus of control r= 0.366 (p<0.001). The health locus of control subdomains PHLC r= 0.385 (p<0.001) and IHLC r= 0.251 (p<0.001) had a positive correlation with the CV-19RP score. However, CHLC r= 0.141 (p=0.02) had no significant correlation with the CV-19RP score.

Conclusion

In the present study, we found a direct correlation between health locus of control and perception of COVID-19 risk. Most of the respondents believed their activities and internal factors caused their health. The risk of COVID-19 is higher among those who believe their health is affected by the activities of others. To improve community health and achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs), key stakeholders must implement a number of positive strategies.

Keywords: COVID-19, Health locus of control, Iran, Risk perception, CHLC, IHLC, PHLC.