Face Mask Usage During COVID-19 Pandemic: Prevalence and Associated Factors in a Malaysian Medical School

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus strain. Anxiety, anticipation, and lack of knowledge in the previous experience on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and influenza A virus subtype H1N1 (H1N1) pandemic have a substantial impact on significant public health behaviours including wearing face mask in public spaces. We investigate the prevalence of face mask usage and its associated factors during COVID-19 amongst students and staff of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). Using a cross-sectional study, 220 respondents participated in an electronic version of a self-administered questionnaire. Analyses were performed using the Chi-square test, IBM SPSS Statistics 25, with statistical significance at p<0.05. Out of the 220 respondents, 197 (89.5%) reported that they wore face masks all the time. Most of the respondents (90.3%) had a high level of precautionary measures against COVID-19, 89.6% selected the internet as their source of information and 90.9% had a good attitude level towards measures against COVID-19. There were significant associations between hygienic practices (p=0.001), source of information (internet) (p=0.025), and attitude towards COVID-19 (p=0.001) with face mask usage. This study demonstrated a high prevalence (89.5%) of face mask usage during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Keywords

• face mask
• covid-19 pandemic
• lack of knowledge
• hygienic practice