COVID-19 Outbreak: Effect of an Educational Intervention Based on Health Belief Model on Nursing Students' Awareness and Health Beliefs at Najran University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

This study aimed to investigate the effect of an educational intervention based on the health belief model (HBM) about COVID-19 on nursing students' awareness and health beliefs. A true-experimental research design was conducted at nursing college, Najran University, KSA. A comprehensive sampling was followed to include all female students at the colleges (164 students). The sample was divided randomly into intervention (82) and control group (82). The educational intervention was designed and conducted based on the HBM through four sequential phases: assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation. The current study results indicated no statistically significant differences between intervention and control groups concerning their demographic characteristic, awareness, and health beliefs before intervention. After intervention, significant differences (p< 0.05) were observed between intervention and control groups in their awareness and all HBM constructs regarding COVID19. There were positive, statistically significant correlations (P< 0.05) between participants' total HBM score and their total awareness score. This study concluded that HBM is effective in increasing nursing students' awareness regarding COVID-19. It also increases their perceived susceptibility, severity, and benefits. Besides, it may increase their self-efficacy to overcome perceived barriers to practice protective and preventive actions while dealing with COVID-19. (Afr J Reprod Health 2020 (Special Edition); 24[2]: 78-86).