During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of hospital visits and attendance at scheduled appointments have dropped significantly. We used the health belief model (in three dimensions) to examine the determinants of non-attendance of scheduled appointments in outpatient clinics due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants in Taiwan ( n = 1954) completed an online survey from 10 April 10 to 23 April 2020, which assessed how people perceived and responded to the outbreak of a fast-spreading infectious disease. We performed both univariate and multivariate logistic regression to examine the roles of cognitive, affective, and behavioral health belief constructs in nonattendance at scheduled appointments. The results indicated that individuals who perceived high confidence in coping with COVID-19 were less likely to miss or cancel their doctor’s appointments, whereas individuals who reported high anxiety and practiced more preventive health behaviors, including avoiding crowded places, washing hands more often, and wearing a mask more often, were more likely to miss or cancel their appointments due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Non-heterosexual participants had a lower rate of nonattendance at scheduled appointments compared with heterosexual ones. The study results increase our understanding of the patients’ cognitive health beliefs, psychological distress, and health behaviors when assessing adherence to medical appointments during a pandemic.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19 pandemic, Self-efficacy, health belief, medical appointment, 【초록키워드】 pandemic, Anxiety, hospital, Infectious disease, clinics, Health, outbreak, Psychological distress, Taiwan, determinant, cognitive, individual, multivariate logistic regression, participant, dimensions, performed, significantly, reported, indicated, less, affective, dropped, Non-heterosexual, washing hand, with COVID-19, 【제목키워드】 COVID-19, Model, Outpatient, Factor, Appointment, belief,