Community practices of face mask use and associated knowledge and attitude in a Malaysian town during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objectives: Among the vital measures to effectively curb the incidence of COVID-19 is the use of face masks. Little is known about what people understand and how they perceive and use face masks. This study aimed to determine the community’s knowledge, attitude, and practice on the correct use of fa...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ghana medical journal 2023-06, Vol.57 (2), p.102-111
Main Authors: A. Jalaluddin, Husna, A. S. Burud, Ismail, P. C. Yew, Regina, Thoong Loh, Xiao, G. J. Tan, Quintina, Nathan, Navinea, M. Daher, Aqil
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Original
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Objectives: Among the vital measures to effectively curb the incidence of COVID-19 is the use of face masks. Little is known about what people understand and how they perceive and use face masks. This study aimed to determine the community’s knowledge, attitude, and practice on the correct use of face masks.Design: A cross-sectional study.Setting: The study was carried out in Seremban 2, Malaysia using a self-administered questionnaire adapted from validated questionnaires of two previous studies.Participants: Through opportunistic sampling, three hundred and ninety-two literate adults (above 18) residing in Seremban 2, Malaysia, participated in this study.Main outcome measure: Knowledge, attitude, and practice scores were assessed among the participants.Results: Three hundred seventy (94.4%) respondents demonstrated satisfactory knowledge. A satisfactory attitude score was achieved by 349 (89%) respondents, while 281 (71.7%) achieved a satisfactory practice score. Better knowledge was significantly associated with college or university education (p=0.028). Female gender (p=0.011) and college or university education (p=0.043) were significantly associated with better practice (p
ISSN:0016-9560
2616-163X
DOI:10.4314/gmj.v57i2.4