Effects Of Covid-19 On Healthcare-seeking Behavior And Adoption Preventive Protocols By Chronic Patients In Ghana

The world has been battling covid-19 pandemic since 2019.The pandemic outbreak has affected all sectors of the global economy for more than three years,with many sectors of the worldwide economy now recovering from the difficulties associated with the pandemic.The health sector was one of the significant sectors devastated by the covid-19 pandemic,with an astronomical increment in hospital attendance and administration of patients in various hospitals.The outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic led to the construction of temporal health facilities and the redesigning of the healthcare structures to help contain the pandemic.Most developed and developing countries had the weakness in their healthcare systems exposed as most basic equipment and tools needed to handle the increasing number of patients during the pandemic were in short supply.The covid-19 pandemic affected all sections of the global population,Nonetheless,persons with chronic health conditions were most affected by the covid-19 outbreak.From the initial stages of the outbreak in 2019,health experts provided sufficient evidence to prove that persons with chronic health conditions were most affected by the pandemic,as mortality associated with the pandemic was high among chronic patients.Due to the devastating effects of covid-19 on the persons with chronic diseases,several researchers in developed countries have focused on examining the impact of covid-19 pandemic on the healthcare-seeking behaviors of chronic patients,but few such studies were conducted in Africa,leading to the effects of covid-19 pandemic on chronic patients in Africa not given much attention.This study evaluates the influence of covid-19 pandemic on persons with chronic health conditions under three objectives.The first objective explored the effect of five of covid-19 pandemic on the healthcare-seeking behaviors of persons with chronic health conditions.The second objective evaluated how the constructs of the health belief model were used to influence the adoption of covid-19 preventive protocols.The third objective focuses on how technology in health delivery influences and moderates the adoption of covid-19 preventive protocols by persons with chronic health conditions.The study is a quantitative study that employed a questionnaire for data collection.A stratified sampling technique was used to select respondents who are chronic patients from chronic disease peer groups in one region of Ghana.A total of 1205 respondents responded to the questionnaires.Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science(SPSS-AMOSversion 23).Structural Equation Modeling was used to evaluate data fitness by using exploratory factor analysis to measure the factor loading of each variable to the constructs,average variance extracted,Cronbach alpha and construct reliability were all conducted to evaluate data fitness.KMO and Bartlett’s Test was conducted to test sample adequacy.The relationships between various constructs were tested using a hierarchical linear regression model on SPSS.The results from objective one of the study indicates that the economic impacts of covid-19 pandemic,Lockdowns,and other restrictions implemented during the covid-19 outbreak negatively influences the healthcare-seeking behaviors of chronic patients.Again,information dissemination during the covid-19 pandemic negatively influences the healthcare-seeking behaviors of chronic patients.On the other hand,the self-efficacy of chronic patients in performing their routine care and technology in health delivery during the covid-19 pandemic influences the healthcare-seeking behavior of chronic patients positively.Further analyses show that technology in health delivery reduces the negative effects of lockdowns and other restrictions on the healthcare-seeking behavior of chronic patients,as technology in health delivery negatively influences the effects of lockdowns and further restrictions.Technology in health delivery influences information dissemination during covid-19 pandemic positively,and technology in health delivery during covid-19 pandemic influenced the self-efficacy of chronic patients in conducting routine care positively.Technology in health delivery also mediates the relationship between the healthcare-seeking behaviors of chronic patients and other effects of covid-19 pandemic.The second study’s objective focuses on the influence of the concepts of the health belief model on the adoption of covid-19 preventive protocols by persons with chronic health conditions.The results show that perceived susceptibility positively to covid-19 infections,perceived severity of covid-19 infections,perceived benefits of adopting covid-19 preventive protocol,and perceived self-efficacy to adopting covid-19 preventive protocols positively influence the adoption of covid-19 preventive protocols by persons with chronic health conditions.Nonetheless,perceived barriers to adoption negatively influence the adoption of covid-19 preventive measures.Further analyses show that perceived self-efficacy has positive effects on perceived benefits but negative effects on the perceived barrier to adopting covid-19 preventive protocols.The third objective explores the effect of technology in health during the covid-19 pandemic on the adoption of covid-19 preventive protocols,and technology in health delivery was used to moderate other relationships.The results show that technology positively influences the adoption of covid-19 preventive protocols and perceived self-efficacy to adopt covid-19 preventive protocols.Further analyses show that technology in health delivery negatively moderates the relationship between perceived barriers to adopting covid-19 preventive protocols and adoption of covid-19 preventive protocols.Nevertheless,technology mediates the relationship between the perceived benefits of adopting covid-19 preventive protocols and the adoption of covid-19 preventive protocols positively,and technology also moderates the relationship between perceived self-efficacy to adopt covid-19 preventive protocols and adoption of covid-19 preventive protocols by persons with chronic health conditions positively.Based on the above findings,the following recommendations are made.The first recommendation is that policymakers should develop policies on providing the health needs of persons with chronic health conditions during pandemics and other emergencies.In the case of subsequent future pandemics,hospitals,medicines,and healthcare experts should be assigned to chronic disease cases.Secondly,there should be well-established bodies that will provide funding and support for chronic patients whose healthcare-seeking behaviors were affected by the economic impacts of the pandemic.Thirdly,chronic patients’ food and other social needs should be supplied to them at low cost or freely during pandemics and other future emergencies,as their sources of income were affected during disease outbreaks and other emergencies.Policymakers should develop specialized health facilities for specialized chronic disease cases within local communities.The researcher recommends two types of health education for the community: first,there should be health education for persons with chronic health conditions to improve their selfefficacy in routine care.Second,the public should be educated on how to prevent chronic diseases through the ministry of health,Ghana health services,and the public health education units.The researcher also recommends further studies on the effects of covid-19 on chronic patients in developing countries using other methods,such as qualitative methods.