Information Resources Trust and Self-Care Behaviors in Prevention of COVID-19 Among Health Workers in Gonabad, Iran

Background: Today, information resources play of paramount importance role in providing information and public awareness. COVID-19 is a highly contagious disease and general precautions and identifying the factors influencing the self-care behaviors play an important role in the prevention of the disease. This study aimed to assess the relationship between trust in information resources and self-care behaviors in the prevention of COVID-19 disease on faculty members, staff, or students of Gonabad University of Medical Sciences between May and April 2020. Methods: This was an analytical cross-sectional study, conducted on 192 persons of faculty members, staff, or students of Gonabad University of Medical Sciences between May and April 2020. The sampling method was census We used a valid and reliable questionnaire to assess our goals. Data on demographic variables, information resources trust and self-care behaviors to them were collected using online self-administered questionnaires. Data were analyzed using SPSS software, using Chi-square and Pearson correlation test . Results: in this study of whom 60.2% were male. The mean age was 24.18±7.97 years (range of 18 to 59). The highest levels of trust in the information resources about COVID-19 were related to articles (37.8%) and faculty information (22.2%), and the lowest ones were related to national media (27.3%) and satellite channels (25.5%). The quality of self-care behavior in females was significantly higher than males (p = 0.018). There was no significant relationship between the level of trust in any of the information resources and the quality of self-care behaviors in the prevention of COVID-19 (p>0.05). Conclusions:  According to the results of this study, there was no significant relationship between the level of trust in information resources and the quality of self-care behaviors to prevent COVID-19and further investigations are needed to find possible associated factors.