The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is highly contagious. More than 247 million cases have been confirmed by the end of October 2021. Seeking help earlier may slow the spread of COVID-19 because it may help in early detection of infected cases, and it facilitate tracing those who were with close contact with infected cases. The purpose of this study is to identify participants' intentions toward COVID-19 seeking help and the factors affecting their decision. This is a cross-sectional study. An online survey using Google Forms was used for data collection. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to explain intentions to seek help for COVID-19. The concepts included in the Theory of Planned Behavior and COVID-19 knowledge were used as predictors. The sample included 780 participants, with an average age of 28.60±9.86 years old. Most of the sample were female (67.4%) and having a bachelor's degree (72.7%). Participants showed high level of knowledge regarding COVID-19, 73% of the sample had a total knowledge score equal to or higher than 85%. Also, participants had high positive attitudes and high intentions to seek help for COVID-19. The four predictors: Attitudes towards COVID-19, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and COVID-19 knowledge significantly explained intentions to seek help. Participants had high intentions to seek help for COVID-19, which was related to having positive attitudes toward seeking help, high social approval, high perceived controllability, and high COVID-19 knowledge levels. Regular awareness campaigns during early stages of pandemics should be performed to improve attitudes and knowledge level, which may improve prevention measures, and promote help seeking behaviors. Consequently, this may facilitate early detection of cases, and slow the spread of pandemics.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 求助行为：计划行为理论的应用。

新型冠状病毒病 (COVID-19) 具有高度传染性。到 2021 年 10 月底，已确认超过 2.47 亿例病例。尽早寻求帮助可能会减缓 COVID-19 的传播，因为它可能有助于早期发现感染病例，并有助于追踪与感染病例密切接触的人. 本研究的目的是确定参与者对 COVID-19 寻求帮助的意图以及影响他们决定的因素。这是一项横断面研究。使用 Google 表单进行的在线调查用于数据收集。分层多元回归分析用于解释为 COVID-19 寻求帮助的意图。计划行为理论和 COVID-19 知识中包含的概念被用作预测因子。样本包括780名参与者，平均年龄为28.60±9.86岁。大部分样本为女性（67.4%）并拥有学士学位（72.7%）。参与者表现出对 COVID-19 的高水平知识，73% 的样本的总知识分数等于或高于 85%。此外，参与者对 COVID-19 寻求帮助的态度和意愿都很高。四个预测因子：对 COVID-19 的态度、主观规范、感知行为控制和 COVID-19 知识显着解释了寻求帮助的意图。参与者对 COVID-19 寻求帮助的意愿很高，这与寻求帮助的积极态度、较高的社会认可度、较高的感知可控性和较高的 COVID-19 知识水平有关。应在大流行的早期阶段定期开展宣传活动，以提高态度和知识水平，这可能会改善预防措施，并促进寻求帮助的行为。因此，这可能有助于早期发现病例，并减缓流行病的传播。