. Masoomeh Latifi; . Fatemeh Maraki; . Mohammad‑Javad Parvaresh; . Mohammadreza Zarei; . Leili Allabakhshian
Volume 13, Issue 2 , February 2023, , Pages 1-9
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Because of the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19), the preventivemeasures have increased, such as focusing on the use of medicinal plants in most communities,including ...
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BACKGROUND: Because of the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19), the preventivemeasures have increased, such as focusing on the use of medicinal plants in most communities,including Iran. The purpose of this study was to identify the knowledge, attitude, and performance ofindividuals toward the use of medicinal plants and to identify the predictors of the use of medicinalplants in the prevention of COVID‑19.MATERIALS AND METHODS: This descriptive‑analytical study (February–April 2021) was performedon 3840 Iranian men and women aged 20–70 years selected as a multi‑stage cluster study. At thefirst stage, all provinces were divided into five regions: North, South, East, West, and Center. In thesecond stage, a provincial center and a city were randomly selected from each region (North: Sari,Babol; South: Bushehr, Bandar Genaveh; East: Mashhad, Sabzevar; West: Hamedan, Toisarkan;Center: Yazd, Ardakan). Data were collected by a researcher‑made scale based on the HealthBelief Model (HBM). Data analysis was performed applying Pearson correlation coefficient, logisticregression, and linear regression.RESULTS: The results showed that people have relatively high knowledge and positive attitude towardthe use of medicinal plants in prevention of COVID‑19. The most important reason for positive attitudewas the perceived benefits with the mean of 75.06%. Also, half of the people had poor performance.Correlation coefficient showed that the use of medicinal plants with perceived sensitivity (p = 0.000,r = 0.3), perceived benefits (p = 0.012, r = 0.126), perceived barriers (p = 0.000, r = 0.179), andperceived self‑efficacy (p = 0.000, r = 0.305) had a significant correlation. The strongest correlationbetween perceived self‑efficacy was observed with the use of herbs in prevention of COVID‑19. TheHBM constructs can predict 26% of the variance for the use of medicinal plants in the preventionof COVID‑19, among which perceived self‑efficacy (β = 0.230) was the most powerful predictor.CONCLUSION: Based on the results, the predictive role of self‑efficacy constructs for the use ofmedicinal plants in prevention of COVID‑19 has been confirmed according to the HBM. Therefore,methods of increasing self‑efficacy such as training programs and providing appropriate interventionmodels can be used not only as promoters of using medicinal plants in prevention of COVID‑19 butalso for improving people’s performance in the proper use of medicinal plants.
