Abstract
This online survey study aimed to compare the cognitive, affective, and behavioral constructs of health beliefs related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) between sexual minority and heterosexual individuals in Taiwan. In total, 533 sexual minority and 1421 heterosexual participants were recruited through a Facebook advertisement. The constructs pertaining to cognition (perceived relative susceptibility to COVID-19, perceived COVID-19 severity, having sufficient knowledge and information on COVID-19, and confidence in coping with COVID-19), affect (worry toward COVID-19), and behavior (adoption of health-protective behaviors) in relation to health beliefs about COVID-19 were compared between sexual minority and heterosexual participants. The results indicated that sexual minority participants had lower perceived susceptibility to COVID-19, greater self-confidence in coping with COVID-19, and lower worry about COVID-19 and were less likely to maintain good indoor ventilation and disinfect their household than heterosexual individuals. Sexual orientation is the modifying factor for the Health Belief Model in the COVID-19 pandemic and should be taken into consideration when medical professionals establish prevention programs for COVID-19.
Highlights
We introduced that we provided links to COVID-19 information from the Taiwanese Society of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, and Medical College of National Cheng Kung University for participants to learn more about COVID-19
The data of 1954 participants (533 and 1421 sexual minority and heterosexual individuals, respectively) were analyzed, with 77 of the original 2031 participants excluded due to missing data
Sexual minority participants tended to be more confident in coping with COVID-19 and less likely to practice everyday COVID-19 prevention
Summary
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged in Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019 and has spread rapidly worldwide; as of 9 June 2020, there have been 7,103,682 confirmed cases and 405,805 deaths [1]. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as a public health emergency demanding global attention [2]. Taiwan was heavily affected by the 2002–2003. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which originated from southern China. Taiwan had the third-highest number of SARS cases globally after China and Hong Kong [3].
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