| Author: | Ng, Tan-tan |
| Title: | The theory of planned behavior and nurses' intention to using personal protective equipment in Hong Kong |
| Degree: | M.Sc. |
| Year: | 2008 |
| Subject: | Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations. Protective clothing. Nursing -- Safety measures. Nurses -- China -- Hong Kong -- Attitudes. |
| Department: | School of Nursing |
| Pages: | xii, 129 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | As most of us can still remember, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has caused significant morbidity worldwide and claimed around 300 lives during its outbreak in Hong Kong between 2002 and 2003. In-hospital SARS outbreaks among health care workers have been reported in various cities and countries while nurses were the most affected group in terms of numbers infected. One of the major routes of transmission for SARS coronavirus is through the spread of respiratory droplets. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is believed to provide certain degree of protection towards SARS or other potential respiratory pathogens in the future. The use of PPE was however remained suboptimal among health care workers in Hong Kong. Strategies to improve PPE utilization is yet to be developed. This study adopted the theory of planned behavior (TPB) in design of the self-administered questionnaire, aiming to search for any factors predicting nurses' intention towards PPE usage. According to TPB, intention can be predicted by a person's attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control. A questionnaire was designed according to these TPB components. Expert opinion was sought for content validity before it was being used in the main study. Nurses were recruited from a large regional hospital in Hong Kong. 451 completed questionnaires were returned and analyzed. Structural equation modeling was employed to test for the fit of the data with the proposed TPB model. Other statistical methods were used to establish validity and reliability of the questionnaire. SPSS version 16 and AMOS 7 were the main statistical packages used. Result showed both attitude and subjective norm were significant predictors towards PPE intention though subjective norm exerted its effect via attitude. They accounted for the variance of 61% and 49% respectively. Since perceived behavioral control failed to achieve statistical significance, the proposed TPB model has to be modified in order to improve the overall fit (GFI=0.998, RMSEA=0.074). Based on the result of this study, implications, strategies and recommendations towards improving PPE usage among nurses were discussed. Directions towards future research were also explored. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
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| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b2218997x.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 1.77 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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