Face Masks During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Simple Protection Tool With Many Meanings

TY - JOUR

T1 - Face Masks During the COVID-19 Pandemic

T2 - A Simple Protection Tool With Many Meanings

AU - Martinelli, Lucia

AU - Kopilaš, Vanja

AU - Vidmar, Matjaž

AU - Heavin, Ciara

AU - Machado, Helena

AU - Todorović, Zoran

AU - Buzas, Norbert

AU - Pot, Mirjam

AU - Prainsack, Barbara

AU - Gajović, Srećko

N1 - Funding Information: SG and VK acknowledge EU European Regional Development Fund, Operational Programme Competitiveness and Cohesion, grant agreement No.KK.01.1.1.01.0007, CoRE—Neuro, and awarded to University of Zagreb School of Medicine for financial support. Publisher Copyright: © Copyright © 2021 Martinelli, Kopilaš, Vidmar, Heavin, Machado, Todorović, Buzas, Pot, Prainsack and Gajović. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2021/1/13

Y1 - 2021/1/13

N2 - Wearing face masks is recommended as part of personal protective equipment and as a public health measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Their use, however, is deeply connected to social and cultural practices and has acquired a variety of personal and social meanings. This article aims to identify the diversity of sociocultural, ethical, and political meanings attributed to face masks, how they might impact public health policies, and how they should be considered in health communication. In May 2020, we involved 29 experts of an interdisciplinary research network on health and society to provide their testimonies on the use of face masks in 20 European and 2 Asian countries (China and South Korea). They reflected on regulations in the corresponding jurisdictions as well as the personal and social aspects of face mask wearing. We analyzed those testimonies thematically, employing the method of qualitative descriptive analysis. The analysis framed the four dimensions of the societal and personal practices of wearing (or not wearing) face masks: individual perceptions of infection risk, personal interpretations of responsibility and solidarity, cultural traditions and religious imprinting, and the need of expressing self-identity. Our study points to the importance for an in-depth understanding of the cultural and sociopolitical considerations around the personal and social meaning of mask wearing in different contexts as a necessary prerequisite for the assessment of the effectiveness of face masks as a public health measure. Improving the personal and collective understanding of citizens' behaviors and attitudes appears essential for designing more effective health communications about COVID-19 pandemic or other global crises in the future.    To wear a face mask or not to wear a face mask?    Nowadays, this question has been analogous    to the famous line from Shakespeare's Hamlet:    “To be or not to be, that is the question.”    This is a bit allegorical,    but certainly not far from the current circumstances    where a deadly virus is spreading amongst us.. Vanja Kopilaš, Croatia.

AB - Wearing face masks is recommended as part of personal protective equipment and as a public health measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Their use, however, is deeply connected to social and cultural practices and has acquired a variety of personal and social meanings. This article aims to identify the diversity of sociocultural, ethical, and political meanings attributed to face masks, how they might impact public health policies, and how they should be considered in health communication. In May 2020, we involved 29 experts of an interdisciplinary research network on health and society to provide their testimonies on the use of face masks in 20 European and 2 Asian countries (China and South Korea). They reflected on regulations in the corresponding jurisdictions as well as the personal and social aspects of face mask wearing. We analyzed those testimonies thematically, employing the method of qualitative descriptive analysis. The analysis framed the four dimensions of the societal and personal practices of wearing (or not wearing) face masks: individual perceptions of infection risk, personal interpretations of responsibility and solidarity, cultural traditions and religious imprinting, and the need of expressing self-identity. Our study points to the importance for an in-depth understanding of the cultural and sociopolitical considerations around the personal and social meaning of mask wearing in different contexts as a necessary prerequisite for the assessment of the effectiveness of face masks as a public health measure. Improving the personal and collective understanding of citizens' behaviors and attitudes appears essential for designing more effective health communications about COVID-19 pandemic or other global crises in the future.    To wear a face mask or not to wear a face mask?    Nowadays, this question has been analogous    to the famous line from Shakespeare's Hamlet:    “To be or not to be, that is the question.”    This is a bit allegorical,    but certainly not far from the current circumstances    where a deadly virus is spreading amongst us.. Vanja Kopilaš, Croatia.

KW - COVID-19

KW - face mask

KW - health communication

KW - personal protecting equipment

KW - physical distancing

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100066309&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3389/fpubh.2020.606635

DO - 10.3389/fpubh.2020.606635

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85100066309

SN - 2296-2565

VL - 8

JO - Frontiers in Public Health

JF - Frontiers in Public Health

M1 - 606635

ER -