Determinants of nurse's and personal support worker's adherence to facial protective equipment in a community setting during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, Canada: A pilot study

Background: Appropriate and consistent facial protective equipment (FPE) use is critical for preventing respiratory illness transmission. Little is known about FPE adherence by home care providers. The purpose of this study is to adapt an existing facial protection questionnaire and use it to develop an initial understanding of factors influencing home care providers' adherence to FPE during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: A survey was shared with home care providers during Wave 2 of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression by FPE adherence were conducted across individual, organizational, and environmental factors.Results: Of the 199 respondents (140 personal support workers; 59 nurses), 71% reported that they always used FPE as required, with greater adherence to masks (89%) than eye protection (73%). The always-adherent reported greater perceived FPE efficacy, knowledge of recommended use and perceived occupational risk, lower education, and not experiencing personal barriers (including difficulty seeing, discomfort, communication challenges).Discussion: Adherence rates were relatively high. In this context, with participants reporting high levels of organizational support, individual-level factors were the significant predictors of adherence.Conclusions: Initiatives addressing perceived FPE efficacy, knowledge of recommended use, perception of atwork risk, and personal barriers to use may improve FPE adherence.& COPY; 2022 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study aimed to understand the adherence of home care providers to facial protective equipment (FPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey was conducted among home care providers in Ontario during Wave 2 of the pandemic, and it was found that most participants had high adherence to FPE, with individual-level factors being significant predictors of adherence.