ArticleFrontiers in public health2020
Face Masks During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Simple Protection Tool With Many Meanings.
Article in Frontiers in public health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Fear of COVID-19 Among College Students: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- Health beliefs and their relation to household, necessary, and unnecessary contacts across COVID-19 epidemic waves in Taiwan.BMC public health · 2025Article
- How Healthcare Teams Appear to the Observer-An Approach to the Complexities of Mask-Wearing Attitudes During the COVID-19 Pandemic.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Face mask mandates alter major determinants of adherence to protective health behaviours in Australia.Royal Society open science · 2025Article
- Factors influencing mask use and physical distancing for COVID-19: A qualitative evidence synthesis.Journal of public health in Africa · 2025Review
- "We've Changed, the World's Changed": Leveraging Knowledge from COVID-19 to Improve Self-management for Cancer Survivors and Care Partners.Cancer care research online · 2025Article
- How facemasks shape trust in social interactions.PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
- Synergetic Effects of Aloe Vera Extract with Trimethylglycine for Targeted Aquaporin 3 Regulation and Long-Term Skin Hydration.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Perspectives on the COVID-19 Vaccination Rollout in 17 Countries: Reflexive Thematic and Frequency Analysis Based on the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) Framework.JMIR human factors · 2024Article
- Observed face mask use outside retail chain stores during the COVID-19 pandemic in two cities in the state of Idaho, USA.Journal of community health · 2024Article
- A New-fangled COVID-19 Variant, Eris, Might be the One to Lookout in 2023 or far from Over.Infectious disorders drug targets · 2024Article
- Assessment and feedback of the COVID-19 pandemic's effects on physicians' day-to-day practices: good knowledge may not predict good behavior.The Libyan journal of medicine · 2023Article
- Characteristics associated with attitudes and behaviors towards mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic: The Trojan Pandemic Response Initiative.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Do Italian people still wear masks? Analysis of personality and dispositional correlates of facemask use in post Covid-19 scenario.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- The Attitudes and Practices Regarding COVID-19 among General Practitioners from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Cross-Sectional Study.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Uncovering the Effects of COVID-19 Mask Wearing on Bird Flight Initiation Distance in Urbanized Areas in the Southern Philippines.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Face Mask Use and Social Distancing Attitude of Healthcare Students: A Multi-Disciplinary Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- COVID-19 Disease in Under-5 Children: Current Status and Strategies for Prevention including Vaccination.Vaccines · 2023Review
- Pandemic Education-Insights into Teachers' Perceptions of Hygiene Measures in Schools Due to COVID-19.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
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.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.