relationship between socio-demographic factors and adherence to social distancing recommendations during covid-19 pandemic in gonabad, iran: a cross-sectional study

Background: adherence to social distancing recommendations provided by health authorities plays animportant role in the prevention and control of covid-19 transmission, regarding the lack of effectivedrug therapies. therefore, this study aimed to identify the relationship between socio-demographicfactors and adherence to social distancing recommendations during covid-19 pandemic in gonabad,iran.methods: in this cross-sectional study, 587 subjects aged 15 and older were selected using theconvenience sampling method from urban and rural areas in gonabad, iran, from july to september2020. data were collected online using a socio-demographic characteristics form, the adherence tosocial distancing recommendations scale, and a coronavirus disease awareness survey. subsequently,the obtained data were analyzed in spss software (version 16) using hierarchical linear regression.the statistical significance was considered as p<0.05.results: 72.23% (95% confidence interval: 68.41%-75.82%) of the participants followed therecommendations of social distancing at the high level. nevertheless, many differences were observedin the subgroups which resulted from the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants.according to the multiple linear regression model, sex (β=0.24, p<0.001) was the most importantdeterminant of adherence to social behavioral recommendations, followed by occupation (β=0.15,p<0.001), age (β=0.14, p=0.007), awareness (β=0.13, p=0.001), and history of mental illness (β=-0.08,p=0.049).conclusion: for the effective management of pandemics, the general public health policies shouldalso consider the variability in responses and behavioral changes caused by socio-demographiccharacteristics, rather than focusing only on general measures, such as social distancing.