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Factors Influencing Wearing Face Mask in Public During COVID-19 Outbreak: A Qualitative Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2022

Wei He Open the ORCID record for Wei He [Opens in a new window] ,
Duanying Cai ,
Guiling Geng Open the ORCID record for Guiling Geng [Opens in a new window]  and
David Klug
Wei He
Affiliation:
School of Nursing, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Duanying Cai
Affiliation:
School of Nursing, Jiujiang University, Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province, China
Guiling Geng*
Affiliation:
School of Nursing, Nantong University, Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, China
David Klug
Affiliation:
School of Nursing, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
*
Corresponding author: Guiling Geng, Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

Objective:

Wearing face masks is believed to mitigate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) virus transmission by filtering respiratory droplets. This study was to explore the factors influencing wearing face masks in public in China during COVID-19 outbreak.

Methods:

This study was a qualitative semi-structured interview research design and was guided by the Protection Motivation Theory. Participants from Jiangxi Province China were interviewed by means of WeChat video call. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.

Results:

Recruitment efforts were suspended when 21 participants (aged 23 to 72 y) were successfully enrolled and the data reached thematic saturation. Four themes were identified when participants described factors influencing them to wear face masks: knowledge of disease (subthemes were severity of disease, and individual vulnerability to disease), environmental facilitators and constraints (subthemes were government recommendations, public opinion, and affordability and availability of face masks), understanding of protection effectiveness (subthemes were protection effectiveness of wearing face masks, and selection of protective measures), and past experiences.

Conclusions:

Individuals’ decision to wear face masks was influenced by the combination of factors identified. Identification of these factors provides guidance for explaining wearing face masks in public and helps policy-makers develop feasible recommendations for wearing face masks during COVID-19 outbreak.

Keywords

maskCOVID-19coronavirusqualitative research
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 17 , 2023 , e141
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc.

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