Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane City, Queensland, Australia.
Children's Health and Environment Program, Centre for Children's Health Research, Brisbane City, Queensland, Australia.
Trop Med Int Health. 2023 Sep;28(9):753-762. doi: 10.1111/tmi.13923. Epub 2023 Aug 24.
Traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) problems are unlikely to be solved in the short term, making it imperative to educate children on protective measures to mitigate the negative impact on their health. Children and their caregivers may hold differing views on wearing a face mask as a safeguard against air pollution. While many studies have focused on predicting children's health-protective behaviours against air pollution, few have explored the differences in perceptions between children and their caregivers.
To examine this, we conducted a study that compared the health beliefs of two generations and evaluated the factors that influence the use of masks by children to reduce air pollution exposure.
The study was conducted in 24 secondary schools and involved 8420 children aged 13-14 and their caregivers. We used a Health Belief Model (HBM)-based instrument containing 17-item self-administered health beliefs questionnaires to gather data. The results were analysed using hierarchical logistic regression to determine the probability of children frequently wearing masks to protect against TRAP.
Our study showed both children and caregivers recognised that several factors could influence mask-wearing among children: discomfort or difficulty breathing while wearing a mask and forgetting to bring a mask when going outside; perceived threats of the poor quality of air and children's respiratory health problems; and cues to mask use (i.e., seeing most of their friends wearing facemasks and ease of finding masks in local stores). However, only children were significantly concerned with public perception of their appearance while wearing a mask. Females were more likely to wear masks, and caregivers with higher levels of education were more likely to encourage their children to wear masks. Children who commuted to schools by walking, biking, or motorbiking were also more accepting of mask-wearing than those who travelled by car or bus.
Children and their caregivers hold different perceptions of wearing masks to protect against air pollution. Children are more susceptible to social judgements regarding their appearance when wearing a mask.
交通相关的空气污染（TRAP）问题在短期内不太可能得到解决，因此必须对儿童进行防护措施的教育，以减轻对其健康的负面影响。儿童及其照顾者可能对戴口罩作为防空气污染的保护措施持有不同的看法。虽然许多研究都集中在预测儿童针对空气污染的健康保护行为上，但很少有研究探讨儿童和他们的照顾者之间的看法差异。
为了研究这一点，我们进行了一项研究，比较了两代人的健康信念，并评估了影响儿童使用口罩减少空气污染暴露的因素。
该研究在 24 所中学进行，涉及 8420 名 13-14 岁的儿童及其照顾者。我们使用了基于健康信念模型（HBM）的包含 17 项自我管理健康信念问卷的仪器来收集数据。使用分层逻辑回归分析来确定儿童经常戴口罩以预防 TRAP 的概率。
我们的研究表明，儿童和照顾者都认识到几个因素会影响儿童戴口罩的情况：戴口罩时呼吸困难或不适，外出时忘记带口罩；空气质量差和儿童呼吸道健康问题的感知威胁；以及戴口罩的线索（即，看到大多数朋友戴口罩，在当地商店很容易找到口罩）。然而，只有儿童对戴口罩时公众对他们外表的看法表示明显关注。女性更有可能戴口罩，教育程度较高的照顾者更有可能鼓励他们的孩子戴口罩。步行、骑自行车或骑摩托车上学的儿童比乘汽车或公共汽车上学的儿童更容易接受戴口罩。
儿童及其照顾者对戴口罩以预防空气污染的看法不同。儿童在戴口罩时更容易受到关于其外表的社会评价的影响。
