The Reasons for Avoidance of Wearing a Face Mask by Some People During COVID-19 Outbreak: A Qualitative Study

Background and aims: Since one of the most important methods of preventing the transmission of COVID-19 is wearing a mask, the present research was conducted to clarify the reasons for avoiding wearing a face mask by some people during the coronavirus outbreak. Methods: This is a qualitative content analysis study. In this study, 45 people from the cities of Evaz, Lar, and Gerash participated and were interviewed. The interview method was semi-structured, and the participants were selected based on purposive sampling. The collected data were analyzed by the conventional approach of the qualitative study. Results: The participants of this study consisted of 45 individuals. The mean age of the samples was 41.89 ± 12.88 years. A total of 30 themes were extracted during the qualitative content analysis and then divided into 6 categories, including personal, social, cultural, environmental, economic, and physical factors. Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, the factors influencing the lack of tendency to wear masks by people in the COVID-19 epidemic period are numerous and interact with each other. Therefore, for encouraging people to perform such protective behavior during the coronavirus epidemic, it is necessary to consider individual, social, environmental, economic, and physical factors together.