Abstract

Background and Aim: Medical laboratories are one of the major pillars of health care, and play an important role in the health of people and societies. Labs are hazardous workplaces in terms of acquisition and the spread of many diseases due to occupational contact with different specimens from patients as well as other risks. This study aimed to evaluate the protective behaviors of the personnel of governmental labs in Yazd based on the protection motivation theory. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 90 technical staff in four governmental labs of Yazd were enrolled by convenience method. Data were collected by a researcher-made questionnaire containing demographic characteristics, the protection motivation theory (91 questions) and protective behavior (20 questions) data which were self-reported. Their responses to the constructs of the protection motivation theory were scored using a Likert 5-tier scale from strongly agree (score 1) to strongly disagree (score 5), and for evaluating the behavior it was from always (score 0) to never (score 3). Results: The mean age of the technical personnel of the medical diagnostic laboratories was 34.2±8.9 years. Most personnel were women (63.3). The personnel of the diagnostic laboratories obtained 75.3 of the score of the protective behavior. Protective behaviors showed a significant positive correlation with all constructs of the theory except the perceived severity and the response efficacy. Protection motivation theory constructs explained 32.6 of the variances in protective behavior, in which the perceived susceptibility was the most important predictor (ß=0.326). Conclusion: The results of the present study confirm the role of constructs of protection motivation, fear, vulnerability and perceived reward in increasing the protective behaviors of medical laboratory technical staff. This means, decreasing the perceived reward, increasing fear and acceptance of vulnerability can augment acquisition and implementation of protective behaviors in staff could be considered as a basis in educational programs in health care centers and laboratories.