Term of Award

Spring 2022

Degree Name

Doctor of Public Health in Community Health Behavior and Education (Dr.P.H.)

Document Type and Release Option

Dissertation (restricted to Georgia Southern)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

College of Public Health

Committee Chair

Stacy Smallwood

Committee Member 1

Tilicia Mayo-Gamble

Committee Member 2

Paula Tillman

Abstract

ASSESSING THE FACTORS RELATED TO THE USE OF PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE) IN THE PERIOPERATIVE DIVISION: A CASE STUDY AT A LEVEL 1 TRAUMA CENTER

by

LAKEYSHA MUTCHERSON

(Under the Direction of Stacy Smallwood)

ABSTRACT

Infectious diseases are frequently spread by contact (direct or indirect), droplets, airborne and common transportation (Collins, 2008). Without proper satiation practices or protection against infectious organisms, healthcare professionals bare the risk of contracting many communicable diseases. The purpose of this study was to assess how team members’ knowledge, attitudes and beliefs could affect their PPE use. This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study design utilizing quantitative data to answer research questions framed by the Health Belief Model. The data was collected via a self-administered survey over a period of 14 days. A total of n= 121 team members participated in the study including leadership (n=9). It was found that participants with more experience (n=98) had a higher score of perceived benefits (r= .24, p=.02), perceived susceptibility (r= .29, p= .00) and perceived severity (r= .22, p= .028). The current study found that the frequency of PPE use and perceived barriers had a negative correlation (r=-.292, p= .003). A hierarchical regression also showed that controlling for confounding factors (age and years of experience) perceived barriers had correlation of r= -.233 with a significant p-value equal to .006. The negative correlation of barriers and PPE use tells us that by decreasing barriers related to PPE use we could increase frequency of PPE use. Furthermore, the study showed that as the age of participants increased the perceived benefits of participants use of PPE increased and participants older in age reported a better understanding of the benefits of PPE use.

Index words- Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Health Belief Model (HBM), Healthcare Professionals, Infection control, Occupational health, Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), Personal protective equipment (PPE), PPE Compliance, PPE use, Training, Transferable infections

OCLC Number

1368014093

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

Download

Share

COinS