Protective Behavior against COVID-19 among the Public in Kuwait: An Examination of the Protection Motivation Theory, Trust in Government, and Sociodemographic Factors

With the COVID-19 pandemic threatening millions of lives around the world with no clear promises for treatment or vaccine yet, motivating the public to change their behaviors to prevent the spread of the disease becomes crucial and moral imperative. The current study investigated the associations between self-reported intentions to perform protective behaviors against COVID-19, the seven constructs of the Protection Motivation Theory PMT, trust in government, and sociodemographic factors within the general population in Kuwait. A cross-sectional design was adapted to explore the associations between study factors in a nonprobability voluntary response sample of 679 participants who completed an online public survey. Results indicate that the scores of trust in government and the severity, vulnerability, response efficacy, and self-efficacy subconstructs of the PMT were positively related to protective behavior intention, whereas intrinsic and extrinsic reward and response cost subconstructs were negatively associated with protective behavior intention. The results were discussed considering previous literature and future applications.