investigating adherence to public health preventive instructions in covid-19 patients: a cross-sectional population-based study

Background: the covid-19 pandemic has proven to bea major threat to public health in the present century. in thissituation, adherence to preventive behaviors seriously impactsthe prevention of viral diseases. the present study aims toinvestigate adherence to public health preventive instructions inpatients infected with covid-19 before contracting the disease.methods: this cross-sectional study was carried out fromnovember 2020 to march 2021 in fars province. 3242 patientsinfected with covid-19 were selected via multistage sampling.data were collected using a demographic information form and aresearcher-made questionnaire. the collected data were analyzedby stata v. 14 using the chi-square test. p<0.05 was consideredstatistically significant.results: the average age of participants was 38.45±13.07 years.48.80% had a high rate, 47.90% had a moderate rate, and only3.30% had a low compliance rate with covid-19 preventiveinstructions. the patients’ main reason for not following preventivebehaviors was having to be present in busy places (41.1%). therewas a significant correlation between the participants’ age, gender,place of residence, occupation, education, history of underlyingdiseases (p≤0.001), marital status (p=0.041), and use of maskswith a rate of adherence to preventive behaviors(p≤0.001). inthe random forest, the job represents 36.75% compliance withcovid-19 preventive guidelines.conclusion: therefore, by raising public awareness, healthcarepolicymakers and administrators can enhance the public’sobservance of the covid-19 prevention instructions andconsequently control the spread of the infection and improvepublic health during the current crisis caused by the pandemic.