TRADITIONAL HEALTH BELIEFS AND PRACTICES IN MANAGING FLU-LIKE SYMPTOMS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Health beliefs, specifically thoughts of self-efficacy, refer to a person's belief in his/her ability to do specific behavior. These self-efficacy perceptions influenced whether/not people attempt specific acts and how they carry them out (Cukor et al., 2017), traditional Filipino medicine takes a holistic view of the individual, including environmental factors that affect a person's physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being (Nomoto, 2020). As the cases of COVID – 19 heightened, the people's fear of acquiring the said disease led them to look for alternative options including herbal medicines and other traditional health practices. This study utilized a descriptive correlation method aimed to determine the different traditional health practices in managing flu-like symptoms wherein one hundred (100) residents of Lucena City who are known to use traditional health practices in managing flu-like symptoms were surveyed The findings of this study reveal that residents of Lucena city are aware of the different traditional health practices in managing flu-like symptoms, its' benefits, and possible risks and show that age, gender, and socioeconomic status of the respondents are factors that influence the use of traditional medicine. Moreover, pretest and post-test scores also reveal that respondents are aware of how to deal with flu-like symptoms, especially during the time of the pandemic. Therefore, the researchers came up recommending the city municipal health administrators, strengthen the public's knowledge concerning the use of traditional medicine including its indications, precautions, how to prepare/use it, its side effects, and regulatory information for a safe use through IEC materials.