Dataset Information

First Report on Smoking and Infection Control Behaviours at Outdoor Hotspots during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Unobtrusive Observational Study.

ABSTRACT: This study was to observe smoking behaviours and infection control behaviours in smokers at outdoor smoking hotspots during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong. We conducted unobtrusive observations at nine hotspots during 1 July 2019-31 January 2020 (pre-outbreak, 39 observations), 1 February-30 April 2020 (outbreak, eight observations), and 1 May-11 June 2020 (since-outbreak, 20 observations). Sex, age group, type of tobacco products used, duration of stay, group smoking behaviours, face mask wearing and infection control behaviours of smokers, and mask wearing of non-smoking pedestrians were observed. Compared with pre-outbreak, lower volumes of smokers were observed during outbreak and since-outbreak. Smokers gathered more in a group (24.5% and 25.8% vs. 13.4%, respectively) and stayed longer (91.5% and 83.6% vs. 80.6% stayed ?1 min) during outbreak and since-outbreak than pre-outbreak. Ninety-six percent smokers possessed a face mask. While smoking, 81.6% of smokers put the mask under the chin and 13.8% carried it in the hand, 32.4% did not wear a mask immediately after smoking, 98.0% did not sanitize hands, and 74.3% did not keep a distance of at least one metre. During the COVID-19 pandemic, smokers gathered closely and stayed longer at the hotspots, and few practised hand hygiene, all of which may increase the risk of infection.

SUBMITTER: Sun Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7908604 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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First Report on Smoking and Infection Control Behaviours at Outdoor Hotspots during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Unobtrusive Observational Study.

Sun Yuying Y Lam Tai Hing TH Cheung Yee Tak Derek YTD Wang Man Ping MP Wu Yongda Y Chen Jianjiu J Zhang Xiaoyu X Li William H C WHC Ho Sai Yin SY

International journal of environmental research and public health 20210125 3

This study was to observe smoking behaviours and infection control behaviours in smokers at outdoor smoking hotspots during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong. We conducted unobtrusive observations at nine hotspots during 1 July 2019-31 January 2020 (pre-outbreak, 39 observations), 1 February-30 April 2020 (outbreak, eight observations), and 1 May-11 June 2020 (since-outbreak, 20 observations). Sex, age group, type of tobacco products used, duration of stay, group smoking behaviours, face mask w ...[more]

PMID: 33503837

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Project description:INTRODUCTION:More than half of the smoking population in Hong Kong are unmotivated to quit. Only about 2% of tobacco users in the territory have ever used cessation aids such as nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). The present study aims to assess the effectiveness of delivering 1-week free NRT sample plus brief intervention to smokers at outdoor smoking hotspots on quit attempts and use of smoking cessation services. METHODS AND ANALYSIS:This is a two-arm, pragmatic, multisite, cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT) on the effectiveness of increasing quit attempts, use of cessation service and recruitment outcomes. Trained smoking cessation ambassadors will approach smokers at outdoor smoking hotspots, and deliver brief smoking cessation advice. Recruitment sessions are randomised to intervention or control group (allocation ratio 1:1). Participants in the intervention group (n=550) will receive 1-week free NRT sample (either patch or gum), brief medication advice from an onsite nurse and cessation service referral, whereas participants in control group (n=275) will only receive the brief advice and service referral. The primary outcomes are the proportion of participants who enrol in any cessation service in Hong Kong within 1?month of the recruitment, and the proportion of participants who report quit attempts at 1-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes include self-reported use of NRT, self-reported 7-day tobacco abstinence, 30-day abstinence at 3 months and 6?months, biochemically validated abstinence at 6?months, perceived importance, difficulty and confidence to quit (scale 0-10), and Incremental Behavior Change towards Smoking Cessation. Process outcomes include number of smokers who will be approached, will accept the brief smoking cessation advice or be recruited to participate in the RCT. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION:The Institutional Review Board of the University of Hong Kong/Hospital Authority Hong Kong West Cluster approved the trial (UW 18-118). Findings will be disseminated through funding website, publication and conference presentations. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER:NCT03717051.

Project description:ObjectivesTo assess the quantity and quality of studies using an observational measure of behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to narratively describe the association between self-report and observational data for behaviours relevant to controlling an infectious disease outbreak.DesignSystematic review and narrative synthesis of observational studies.Data sourcesWe searched Medline, Embase, PsychInfo, Publons, Scopus and the UK Health Security Agency behavioural science LitRep database from inception to 17th September 2021 for relevant studies.Study selectionWe included studies which collected observational data of at least one of three health protective behaviours (hand hygiene, face covering use and maintaining physical distance from others ('social distancing') during the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies where observational data were compared to self-report data in relation to any infectious disease were also included.Data extraction and synthesisWe evaluated the quality of studies using the NIH quality assessment scale for observational studies, extracted data on sample size, setting and adherence to health protective behaviours, and synthesized results narratively.ResultsOf 27,279 published papers on COVID-19 relevant health protective behaviours that included one or more terms relating to hand hygiene, face covering and social distancing, we identified 48 studies that included an objective observational measure. Of these, 35 assessed face covering use, 17 assessed hand hygiene behaviour and seven assessed physical distancing. The general quality of these studies was good. When expanding the search to all infectious diseases, we included 21 studies that compared observational versus self-report data. These almost exclusively studied hand hygiene. The difference in outcomes was striking, with self-report over-estimating observed adherence by up to a factor of five in some settings. In only four papers did self-report match observational data in any domains.ConclusionsDespite their importance in controlling the pandemic, we found remarkably few studies assessing protective behaviours by observation, rather than self-report, though these studies tended to be of reasonably good quality. Observed adherence tends to be substantially lower than estimates obtained via self-report. Accurate assessment of levels of personal protective behaviour, and evaluation of interventions to increase this, would benefit from the use of observational methods.

Dataset Information

First Report on Smoking and Infection Control Behaviours at Outdoor Hotspots during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Unobtrusive Observational Study.

Publications

First Report on Smoking and Infection Control Behaviours at Outdoor Hotspots during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Unobtrusive Observational Study.

Similar Datasets

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