Two Years After the Beginning of COVID-19: Comparing Families Who Had or Did not Have Patients with COVID-19 on Health Beliefs and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms

• Published in: Iranian journal of psychiatry Vol. 18; no. 4; pp. 429 - 442
• Main Authors: Salmani, Behzad, Hasani, Jafar, Zanjani, Zahra, Gholami-Fesharaki, Mohammad
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tehran Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Psychiatry and Psychology Research Center 01.10.2023; Psychiatry & Psychology Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences; Tehran University of Medical Sciences
• Subjects: Chi-square test; COVID-19; Demographic Factors; Family; Health Belief Model; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder; Original; Post traumatic stress disorder; Questionnaires
• ISSN: 2008-2215; 1735-4587; 1735-4587; 2008-2215
• DOI: 10.18502/ijps.v18i4.13630

Objective: This study aimed to compare health beliefs and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) in families with (FIM+) or without an infected member (FIM–) two years after the beginning of COVID-19. Additionally, this research intended to predict a decrease in OCS from baseline (T1) to 40 days later (T2) based on health beliefs. Method: In a longitudinal survey, 227 participants in two groups, including FIM+ (n = 98; M = 30.44; SD = 5.39) and FIM– (n = 129; M = 29.24; SD = 4.93), were selected through purposive sampling. They responded to measurements consisting of demographic characteristics, the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), and COVID-19 Health Belief Questionnaire (COVID-19-HBQ) at the final assessment phase (T2). To investigate differences between the two groups and predict OCS changes from T1 to T2, data were analyzed using Chi-squared, t-tests, U-Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, Pearson correlations, and linear regression analyses. Results: At T1, FIM+ demonstrated significantly greater OCS, health beliefs, posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTS), and depressive symptoms than FIM–. Furthermore, FIM+ showed a decrease in OCS from T1 to T2 after its infected member recovered from COVID-19 (P < 0.001). A decrease in OCS was correlated with a decrease in perceived susceptibility, severity, and barriers. Lack of a vulnerable family member, lower educational attainment, and being a primary caregiver were associated with a greater decrease in OCS. Changes in perceived severity and self-efficacy accounted for 17% of variation in OCS. Conclusion: Even two years after the onset of the pandemic, COVID-19 not only impacts the life of patients with COVID-19 but family members who care for such patients respond to the disease by engaging in excessive health behaviors in the form of OCS.