Abstract
Objective: The purpose of the present study was to examine the stages of change in behavior when wearing a mask among patients of lung tuberculosis (TB). Moreover, we examined differences along with each of the stages of change in terms of pros and cons, barriers and facilitators for mask wearing behavior, psychological adjustment, physical symptoms, and social factors. Method: The participants were lung TB patients or patients who might have lung TB in hospital. The design of the present study was a cross sectional design. Findings: In the participants of this study, there were twenty-two participants for the preparation stage and twenty-six participants for the action stage. We analyzed the data of the participants whose mean age was 53.09±16.70 (range was 19-78 years old). The results showed there were significant differences in some items of the cons and barriers for wearing a mask, and physical symptoms. It was identified that there were different tendencies in the length of hospital stay and facilitators for wearing a mask. In particular, there were significant differences in multiple items for barriers of wearing a mask. Discussion: In the future, not only should facilitators be promoted, but participants should also be reminded of wearing a mask if there are barriers for wearing a mask by medical staff, especially nurses. It is also preferable to intervene to stop patients from forgetting to wear a mask.
