determinants of adherence to covid-19 preventive behaviors based on an extended parallel process model: a cross-sectional study

Background: the pneumonia associated with coronavirus (covid-19) appeared in wuhan, china, and it quickly spread to other countries worldwide. in addition to physical damage, the virus adversely affects the mental health of the community. the aim of this research was to identify the factors influencing adherence to covid-19 preventive measures, utilizing the extended parallel process model as a basis.methods: the cross-sectional investigation comprised all men and women from the community as its study population, and the participants were randomly selected. data were collected using an online questionnaire developed by the researcher, grounded in the extended parallel process model. the questionnaire's external consistency (r=0.78, p=0.01) and internal consistency (cronbach's alpha>0.7 for each concept) were both acceptable. spss27 was used to analyze the data.results: participants in the study included 1193 individuals (58.4% female), with an age range of 15 to 80 years old and a mean age of 36.79±10.43 years. women had higher mean scores for perceived response efficiency, self-efficacy, and preventive behaviors compared to men (p<0.001). the average scores of the eppm model components demonstrated a strong correlation with the average scores of behaviors which aimed at preventing covid-19. the most influential factor in determining the performance of health behaviors was perceived self-efficacy.conclusion: health education interventions should prioritize enhancing perceived self-efficacy and response efficacy over concentrating solely on disease incidence and mortality.