The relationship between perceptions about COVID-19 and behavior of implementing health protocols on informal workers garment industry in Banyuwangi

The newly discovered coronavirus (COVID-19) has become a pandemic, infecting thousands of people worldwide. Most informal workers have to keep working even though, in the COVID-19 pandemic situation, the garment industry is one of the informal worker professions in the Banyuwangi area. Working in a COVID-19 pandemic is to break the chain of COVID-19 spread. Every worker is required to apply the health protocols recommended by the government. However, workers are still carrying out activities at work without implementing health protocols. The prevention of COVID-19 infections involves the implementation of behaviors to reduce risk. However, these behaviors depend on the perception of the threat posed by the illness. The current study aims to determine the relationship between perceptions about the COVID-19 and workers’ behavior in carrying out health protocols. This study was descriptive with a cross-sectional design. The research sample consists of 50 workers in the garment industry who were taken through the total sampling method. The Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire was used to assess perception. Survey Tools and Guidance from WHO (2020) were used to assess workers’ behavior in carrying out health protocols. Spearman correlation test was used to analyze the data. According to this study, it was found that 50% of workers had good perceptions, and 50% had poor perceptions. Workers who had good behavior in implementing health protocols were 52%, while those who did not implement health protocols were 48%. Based on the correlation test result between perception and behavior variables, a correlation coefficient of 0.622 was obtained. There is a strong relationship between the two variables with a positive direction: the higher workers’ perception, the better the workers’ behavior in implementing health protocols.