Preventive Behaviors of Healthcare Workers Against COVID‐19 Within the Framework of Protection Motivation Theory Integrated With Burnout and Perceived Social Support

ABSTRACT The COVID‐19 pandemic has strained healthcare workers (HCWs), leading to reduced social support, burnout, and diminished protection capacities. Drawing on protection motivation theory (PMT), this study explores the effects of burnout and perceived social support (PSS) on HCWs' preventive behaviors, providing insights and recommendations. This study surveyed 360 HCWs from a public hospital during the pandemic, utilizing the AFPB‐CO Scale based on PMT, Maslach Burnout Inventory, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and demographic questions. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyzed how burnout and PSS affected HCWs' preventive behaviors. Perceived threat and self‐efficacy are key determinants of HCWs' protection motivation (β = 0.51, 0.41; p < 0.001), with perceived threat indirectly influencing it through fear and self‐efficacy (β = 0.15, 0.17; p < 0.01). Burnout and PSS affect self‐efficacy (β = −0.21, p < 0.001; β = 0.12, p < 0.05), without affecting protection motivation. The model explains 57% of the variance in protection motivation, and 41% in behavioral responses (R 2 = 0.57, 0.41; p < 0.001). Healthcare workers' protection motivation for COVID‐19 was driven by threat appraisal, which enhanced protection motivation through response efficacy and self‐efficacy. Burnout and social support notably impacted self‐efficacy, highlighting essential factors for designing communication tools to promote preventive behaviors among HCWs.