Effect of Knowledge/Practice of COVID-19 Prevention Measures on Return-to-Work Concerns; Attitudes About the Efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine: Survey on Supermarket Staff in Huanggang, China

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate how knowledge and practice of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) prevention measures affected concerns about returning to work among supermarket staff. Attitudes about the ability of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to prevent COVID-19 were also assessed.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Huanggang, Hubei Province, China from April 23 to 25, 2020. Participants were invited to fill out an electronic questionnaire on their cell phones.Results: The results showed that from 2,309 valid questionnaires, 61.5% of participants were concerned about resuming work. Major concerns included asymptomatic infection (85.01%) and employees gathering in the workplace (78.96%). Multivariate logistic regression indicated that the female gender, having school-aged children and pregnancy were risk factors for being concerned about resuming work, while good knowledge and practice of preventive measures were protective factors. Knowledge and practice of preventive measures were positively correlated. Among preventive measures, the highest percentage of participants knew about wearing masks and washing hands. Meanwhile, 65.8% of participants expressed confidence in the ability of TCM to prevent COVID-19, where 74 and 51.3% thought there was a need and a strong need, respectively, for preventive TCM-based products. Among them, 71.5% preferred oral granules. Regarding TCM as a COVID-19 preventative, most were interested in information about safety and efficacy.Conclusion: These findings suggested that promoting knowledge and practices regarding COVID-19 prevention can help alleviate concerns about returning to work. Meanwhile, TCM can feasibly be accepted to diversify COVID-19 prevention methods.Clinical Trial Registration:http://www.chictr.org.cn/, identifier: ChiCTR2000031955.

Practices, Knowledge, and Attitudes of Chinese University Students Toward Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine for the Control of COVID-19

“… 7–33 In order to examine the acceptance of TCM for COVID-19 control among stakeholders, several studies have investigate the related practices, knowledge, and/or attitudes of medical professionals, 32 , 33 Chinese immigrants, 23 and supermarket staff. 30 There are diversified traditional healing techniques under the umbrella of TCM, such as the herbal remedies, acupuncture, breathing exercises, massage, dietary therapy, moxibustion. 15 , 16 However, these previous related studies 23 , 30 , 32 , 33 did not specify these technique types in their questionnaires, which might confuse the respondents, thereby affecting their responses.…”

“… 30 There are diversified traditional healing techniques under the umbrella of TCM, such as the herbal remedies, acupuncture, breathing exercises, massage, dietary therapy, moxibustion. 15 , 16 However, these previous related studies 23 , 30 , 32 , 33 did not specify these technique types in their questionnaires, which might confuse the respondents, thereby affecting their responses. 29 Among the TCM healing techniques, the application of traditional Chinese herbs based on the TCM principle has been considered as the mainstay and principal form of TCM practice.…”

“… 23 Another survey studying the public’s need for preventive TCM products also suggested the good market prospects of TCM products for COVID-19 prevention. 30 Especially for the healthy university students, the preventive role of Chinese herbal medicine against self-infection is important under the condition that no specific agent in Western Medicine had yet been proven effective for COVID-19 prevention. Moreover, student individuals can self-determine whether they use Chinese herbal medicine for the COVID-19 prevention before disease onset.…”

“…[27][28][29] There were evidences showing the preventive effect of Chinese herbal decoction as used in time on close contacts of COVID-19 patients to effectively decrease the conversion rate of contacts to confirmed patients. 30 Moreover, it has been generally considered that the Chinese herbal medicine showed remarkable achievements in preventing COVID-19 patients at early stage of outbreak against the deterioration into severe or critical stage. [7][8][9]11 After the national promotion of Chinese herbal medicine in epidemic control, the mortality rate of COVID-19 has been reported to be notably reduced in many regions of China.…”

Natural Products and Nanotechnology Against Coronavirus Disease 2019

“…Currently, different natural products reportedly exert anti-cancer, anti-oxidation, anti-malarial, anti-anxiety, and anti-organ effects, and treat various cardiovascular diseases effectively, and facilitate the effective treatment of various cardiovascular diseases ( Weng et al, 2019 ; Li L. et al, 2021 ). Researchers have found that herbs can directly inhibit pathogens associated with common diseases that infect the respiratory tract or coordinate the activities of the immune system to prevent or alleviate infection ( Yan et al, 2021 ).…”