Protection Motivation Theory-Based Education for Infectious Disease Prevention in Primary Care

The Effect of Protection Motivation Theory-Based Education on Infectious Disease Perception, Risk Awareness, and Protective Health Behaviors in Primary Care

This study aims to evaluate the effect of a Protection Motivation Theory-based educational intervention on infectious disease perception, risk awareness, and protective health behaviors among adults attending primary care services. Participants will be assigned to an intervention group or a control group. The intervention group will receive a face-to-face educational program based on Protection Motivation Theory, while the control group will continue to receive routine health services without an additional educational intervention during the study period. Outcomes will be assessed at baseline and at Week 4 using validated self-report measures.

This study is a controlled quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design. It will be conducted among adults attending a primary care center. The study is designed to evaluate whether an educational intervention based on Protection Motivation Theory can improve participants' perceptions of infectious diseases, awareness of infectious disease risks, and protective health behaviors.

Participants will be allocated to an intervention group and a control group. Before the intervention, participants in both groups will complete baseline assessments. Participants in the intervention group will then receive a face-to-face educational program based on Protection Motivation Theory. The educational content will address routes of infectious disease transmission, prevention methods, hand hygiene, mask use, environmental hygiene, maintenance of immunity, risk awareness, and protective health behaviors. Participants in the control group will not receive the educational intervention during the study period and will continue to receive routine health services.

At Week 4, participants in both groups will complete the post-intervention assessments. Changes in infectious disease perception, risk awareness, and protective health behaviors will be evaluated by comparing pre-intervention and post-intervention measurements between and within the groups.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Being 18 years of age or older.
• Being registered with and receiving services from the family health center where the study is conducted.
• Being able to communicate in Turkish.
• Voluntarily agreeing to participate in the study.
• Being able to complete the study questionnaires and participate in the educational intervention.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Having a condition that prevents effective communication or participation in the educational intervention.
• Declining to participate or withdrawing consent at any stage of the study.
• Failing to complete the required pre-intervention or post-intervention assessments.