Knowledge and attitude regarding not wearing medical mask among health care workers and their impact on themselves

Abstract

Background: Medical masks were considered as an effective method of preventing droplet infections like Measles, Influenzae, Mumps, Meningococcal infection, Pertussis, Pneumococcal disease, Rubella, Chickenpox, Viral conjunctivitis, and coronavirus Infection to some extent. Identifying knowledge and attitude of healthcare workers regarding medical mask utilization is very important to identify gaps and intervene immediately to control the spread of the infection. Hence, the main aim of this study was to determine the health worker’s knowledge and attitude towards medical mask utilization at SS Hospital, BHU, and Varanasi. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study having quantitative research approach that was conducted on the 100 health care workers of all categories working in the different wards of SS Hospital, BHU, Varanasi during the study period. Data were collected using a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire adopted from different studies after getting consent from the study participants. After the data were collected, it was entered and analysed using SPSS version 23 computer software. Chi-squared test was used to measure the association between the knowledge, attitude, and sociodemographic variables. Statistical significance was declared at p-value<0.05. Results: The study shows that out of 100 participants, 15 (15.0%) of them had poor knowledge about medical mask, 64 (64.0%) of them had average knowledge & rest 21 (21.0%) of them had good knowledge about medical mask and less than one-fourth 15 (15.0%) of the participants have negative attitude towards medical mask utilization but more than three-fourth 85 (85.0%) have positive attitude towards medical mask utilization. Conclusion: In this study, the level of knowledge regarding medical mask was average and there was positive attitude towards medical mask utilization. Comprehensive training about a medical mask that focuses on its proper use should be designed and given by the authorities to healthcare workers who are on the front-line.