Is My Cough a Cold or Covid? A Qualitative Study of COVID-19 Symptom Recognition and Attitudes Toward Testing in the UK
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Abstract
Objective: Key to reducing the spread of COVID-19 in the UK is increased use of the NHS Test and Trace (NHSTT) system. This study explored one of the main issues that determine whether people engage with NHSTT, how people understand symptoms that may indicate the presence of COVID-19 and that should trigger a request for a test.
Methods: In this qualitative study, a series of semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 40 people (21 members of the general population, 19 students). There was nearly an equal split between male and female participants in both samples. Data were collected between 30 November and 11 December 2020 and explored using thematic analysis. There was substantial similarity in responses for both populations so we combined our results and highlighted where differences were present.
Results: Participants generally had good knowledge of the main symptoms of COVID-19 (high temperature, new, persistent cough, anosmia) but had low confidence in their ability to differentiate them from symptoms of other illnesses. Attribution of symptoms to COVID-19 was most likely where the symptoms were severe, many symptoms were present, symptoms had lasted for some time and when perceived risk of exposure to infection was high due to previous contact with others. Participants felt encouraged to engage in testing where symptoms were present and had persisted for several days, though, many had concerns about the safety of testing centres and the accuracy of test results. Students had mixed feelings about mass asymptomatic testing, seeing it as a way to access a more normal student experience, but also a potential waste of resources.
Conclusions: This study offers novel insights into how people attribute symptoms to COVID-19 and barriers and facilitators to engaging with NHSTT. Participants had positive views of testing, but there is a need to improve not just recognition of each main symptom, but also understanding that even single, mild symptoms may necessitate a test rather than a “wait and see” approach, and to address concerns around test accuracy to increase testing uptake.
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SciScore for 10.1101/2021.05.28.21258022: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics Consent: Consent was obtained prior to data collection and ethical approval was granted by the Psychiatry, Nursing and Midwifery Research Ethics Subcommittee at King’s College London (LRS-20/21-21336:COVID-19).
IRB: Consent was obtained prior to data collection and ethical approval was granted by the Psychiatry, Nursing and Midwifery Research Ethics Subcommittee at King’s College London (LRS-20/21-21336:COVID-19).Sex as a biological variable Interviews were conducted by FM and LW, who are both female researchers with training and experience of qualitative methods in health research. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources …
SciScore for 10.1101/2021.05.28.21258022: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics Consent: Consent was obtained prior to data collection and ethical approval was granted by the Psychiatry, Nursing and Midwifery Research Ethics Subcommittee at King’s College London (LRS-20/21-21336:COVID-19).
IRB: Consent was obtained prior to data collection and ethical approval was granted by the Psychiatry, Nursing and Midwifery Research Ethics Subcommittee at King’s College London (LRS-20/21-21336:COVID-19).Sex as a biological variable Interviews were conducted by FM and LW, who are both female researchers with training and experience of qualitative methods in health research. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.
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