فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

Introduction: Influenza A/H1N1 pandemic has recently threatened the health of world’s populationmore than ever. Non-pharmaceutical measures are important to prevent the spread of influenza A/H1N1 and to prevent a pandemic. Effective influenza pandemic management requires understandingof the factors influencing preventive behavioral. This study reports on predictors of students’preventive behaviors for pandemic influenza A/H1N1 using variables based on the protectionmotivation theory (PMT). Materials and Methods: In a cross-sectional study, multiple-stagerandomized sampling was used to select 300 female students in Isfahan who completed aquestionnaire in December 2009. Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire based onPMT. The statistical analysis of the data included bivariate correlations, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis,and linear regression. Results: The mean age of participants was 15.62 (SE = 1.1) years old. Majorityof participants were aware regarding pandemic influenza A/H1N1 (87.3%, 262 out of 300). Resultsshowed that, protection motivation was highly significant relationship with preventive behaviorand predicted 34% of its variance. We found all of the variables with the exception of perceivedsusceptibility, perceived severity, and response cost were related with protection motivation andexplained 22% of its variance. Conclusion: Promotion of students’ self-efficacy, and intention toprotect themselves from a health threat should be priorities of any programs aimed at promotingpreventive behaviors among students. It is also concluded that the protection motivation theory maybe used in developing countries, like Iran, as a framework for prevention interventions in an attemptto improve the preventive behaviors of students.