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Community practice of using face masks for the prevention of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia

Community face masking is possibly of great value in reducing COVID-19 transmission, especially when universally adopted with high compliance. The aim of this study is to investigate the knowledge, common misconceptions, barriers, and the compliance of the community with the use of face masks for th...

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Autores principales: Al Naam, Yaser A., Elsafi, Salah H., Alkharraz, Zeyad S., Alfahad, Othman A., Al-Jubran, Khalid M., Al Zahrani, Eidan M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7894919/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33606830
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247313
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author Al Naam, Yaser A.
Elsafi, Salah H.
Alkharraz, Zeyad S.
Alfahad, Othman A.
Al-Jubran, Khalid M.
Al Zahrani, Eidan M.
author_facet Al Naam, Yaser A.
Elsafi, Salah H.
Alkharraz, Zeyad S.
Alfahad, Othman A.
Al-Jubran, Khalid M.
Al Zahrani, Eidan M.
author_sort Al Naam, Yaser A.
collection PubMed
description Community face masking is possibly of great value in reducing COVID-19 transmission, especially when universally adopted with high compliance. The aim of this study is to investigate the knowledge, common misconceptions, barriers, and the compliance of the community with the use of face masks for the prevention of COVID-19. A validated questionnaire was administered to the participants through a web link by using various social media. The collected data were statistically analyzed for significant differences according to demographic variables. The average knowledge of face masks and their role in preventing COVID-19 transmission was 95.64%, with no differences among most of the demographical factors. Older groups and females demonstrated a better attitude towards wearing face masks than other groups did (p<0.001). Another significant difference in the participant’s attitude was noticed between the various educational levels, employment, and nationality (p<0.001). Of the total respondents, 88.2% encouraged wearing face masks. Misconceptions about wearing face masks were very low. The frequency of wearing face masks at public places, workplaces, or social gatherings was 87.2%, 80.5%, and 47.5% respectively. There was a significant variation in the compliance with wearing face masks between the various groups based on age, gender, nationality, and employment status (p<0.001). The inconvenience in wearing face masks was reported by 36.3%. Face irritation and ear pain were reported by 70.2% and 43.5%, respectively. The inconvenience of wearing face masks with eyeglasses was reported by 44.3% of those wearing eyeglasses. In general, the study demonstrated a good attitude among participants towards wearing face masks. Although the respondents in the study were aware of the benefits of wearing face masks, the barriers may have decreased their desire to do so. These barriers include difficulty in breathing, discomfort, face irritation, and ear pain.
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spelling pubmed-78949192021-03-01 Community practice of using face masks for the prevention of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia Al Naam, Yaser A. Elsafi, Salah H. Alkharraz, Zeyad S. Alfahad, Othman A. Al-Jubran, Khalid M. Al Zahrani, Eidan M. PLoS One Research Article Community face masking is possibly of great value in reducing COVID-19 transmission, especially when universally adopted with high compliance. The aim of this study is to investigate the knowledge, common misconceptions, barriers, and the compliance of the community with the use of face masks for the prevention of COVID-19. A validated questionnaire was administered to the participants through a web link by using various social media. The collected data were statistically analyzed for significant differences according to demographic variables. The average knowledge of face masks and their role in preventing COVID-19 transmission was 95.64%, with no differences among most of the demographical factors. Older groups and females demonstrated a better attitude towards wearing face masks than other groups did (p<0.001). Another significant difference in the participant’s attitude was noticed between the various educational levels, employment, and nationality (p<0.001). Of the total respondents, 88.2% encouraged wearing face masks. Misconceptions about wearing face masks were very low. The frequency of wearing face masks at public places, workplaces, or social gatherings was 87.2%, 80.5%, and 47.5% respectively. There was a significant variation in the compliance with wearing face masks between the various groups based on age, gender, nationality, and employment status (p<0.001). The inconvenience in wearing face masks was reported by 36.3%. Face irritation and ear pain were reported by 70.2% and 43.5%, respectively. The inconvenience of wearing face masks with eyeglasses was reported by 44.3% of those wearing eyeglasses. In general, the study demonstrated a good attitude among participants towards wearing face masks. Although the respondents in the study were aware of the benefits of wearing face masks, the barriers may have decreased their desire to do so. These barriers include difficulty in breathing, discomfort, face irritation, and ear pain. Public Library of Science 2021-02-19 /pmc/articles/PMC7894919/ /pubmed/33606830 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247313 Text en © 2021 Al Naam et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Al Naam, Yaser A.
Elsafi, Salah H.
Alkharraz, Zeyad S.
Alfahad, Othman A.
Al-Jubran, Khalid M.
Al Zahrani, Eidan M.
Community practice of using face masks for the prevention of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia
title Community practice of using face masks for the prevention of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia
title_full Community practice of using face masks for the prevention of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia
title_fullStr Community practice of using face masks for the prevention of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia
title_full_unstemmed Community practice of using face masks for the prevention of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia
title_short Community practice of using face masks for the prevention of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia
title_sort community practice of using face masks for the prevention of covid-19 in saudi arabia
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7894919/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33606830
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247313
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