Effects of Health Belief on Infectious Disease Prevention Behavior: Focusing on the Moderating Effects of Social Exclusion

Abstract

Identifying and demonstrating the factors affecting individual infectious disease prevention behavior is important in that it can provide evidence for establishing an intervention strategy to promote preventive behavior. This study analyzed the factors affecting the practice behavior of preventing infectious diseases based on the Health Belief Model (HBM), but examined the moderating effect of the influencing factors according to the level of social exclusion in consideration of the public health characteristics of the practice behavior. Perceived severity and perceived probability constituting perceived threats were found to have no significant effect on the intention to prevent infectious diseases, while perceived social distancing disorders and perceived vaccination disorders were found to have a significant impact. In the case of the moderating effect of social exclusion, it was found that the perceived social distancing disorder and perceived benefits had a significant influence on infectious disease prevention practice behavior only in groups with low social exclusion.