Warnock-Parkes Emma, Thew Graham R, Clark David M
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Front Psychol. 2021 Oct 22;12:680552. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.680552. eCollection 2021.
Face masks are now seen as a key tool in the world's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, during the early stages of the outbreak, face mask use in the United Kingdom (UK) was significantly lower than that of countries equally impacted by the virus. We were interested to explore whether social cognitions played a role in levels of mask wearing. A cross-sectional online survey of UK adults (=908) was conducted in July 2020. Estimated face mask use and thoughts about wearing face masks were assessed using measures developed for this study. Participants also answered questions about their general mood, social anxiety and basic demographic data. Multiple regression was used to examine factors associated with mask wearing. Participants' estimated mask wearing was low when in public spaces, such as the park (17%) or walking on the high street (36%). However, broadly fitting with UK guidance at the time, rates were considerably higher when in situations of closer proximity to others, such as on public transport (94%), in a shop or café (62%), when speaking to somebody in an enclosed public space (67%) or in a busy area when social distancing was not possible (79%). When looking at estimated mask wearing when in proximity to others, positive social cognitions (e.g., I'll look confident and competent wearing a mask) were associated with more wearing, whereas negative social cognitions (e.g., I'll look anxious, I'll look foolish) were associated with less wearing. These results remained after controlling for factors that have indicated increased risk from COVID-19 (age, gender, ethnicity, presence of a health condition or pregnancy), belief about the health benefit for others and levels of depression and social anxiety. The largest predictors of mask wearing were the amount of people believed wearing a mask would keep others safe and the presence of an underlying health condition. The study findings indicate that future public health campaigns would benefit from a focus on strengthening beliefs about the protective benefits of masks, but also promoting positive social messages about wearing in public (e.g., mask wearing means you are confident and competent).
口罩如今被视为全球从新冠疫情中恢复的关键工具。然而，在疫情爆发的早期阶段，英国民众的口罩使用率显著低于同样受到病毒影响的其他国家。我们感兴趣的是探究社会认知是否在口罩佩戴水平中发挥了作用。2020年7月，我们对908名英国成年人开展了一项横断面在线调查。我们使用为本研究开发的测量方法来评估口罩的估计使用率以及对佩戴口罩的看法。参与者还回答了有关他们的总体情绪、社交焦虑和基本人口统计数据的问题。我们使用多元回归分析来研究与口罩佩戴相关的因素。参与者在公园（17%）或在大街上行走（36%）等公共场所时，估计的口罩佩戴率较低。然而，总体上符合当时英国的指导意见，在与他人近距离接触的情况下，口罩佩戴率要高得多，比如在公共交通工具上（94%）、在商店或咖啡馆（62%）、在封闭的公共场所与他人交谈时（67%）或在无法保持社交距离的繁忙区域（79%）。在观察与他人近距离接触时的估计口罩佩戴情况时，积极的社会认知（例如，我戴口罩会显得自信和有能力）与更多的佩戴行为相关，而消极的社会认知（例如，我会显得焦虑，我会看起来很傻）则与较少的佩戴行为相关。在控制了表明感染新冠病毒风险增加的因素（年龄、性别、种族、是否有健康状况或怀孕）、对他人健康益处的信念以及抑郁和社交焦虑水平后，这些结果依然成立。口罩佩戴的最大预测因素是认为戴口罩能保护他人安全的人数以及是否有潜在健康状况。研究结果表明，未来的公共卫生宣传活动应侧重于强化对口罩防护益处的信念，同时宣传在公共场合佩戴口罩的积极社会信息（例如，戴口罩意味着你自信且有能力）。
