User Acceptance and Psychological Reactions to Respiratory and Body Protective Devices for a Cold Environment

摘要

The aim of the present study was to evaluate two different respiratory protective devices (RPD) and two body protective devices (BPD) in respect of acceptance and psychological reactions. The protective devices were designed to be used by rescue personnel in NBC-contaminated environments. The evaluation was carried out under three environmental conditions; from room temperature to -20℃, 30 minutes in -20℃ and from -20℃ to room temperature. During the 30 minutes in -20℃ the participants were to the following four activities; no activity (7 minutes), carry sandbags (7 minutes), walk in stairs (7 minutes), and read text (9 minutes). 10 persons between 32 and 54 years of age participated in this study. There were 3 men and 7 women and none of them had any prior experience of wearing RPD or BPD. All participants tested the two RPDs (Full face mask 90 and TST) as well as the two BPDs (SRV and TST). The following main results were found; The use of RPD and BPD in general always creates discomfort and disturbance for the users but not severe enough to prevent using the protective devices for as long as it is considered necessary. Though there are some significant differences between the two RPDs. The sound level was judged higher for TST than for Full face mask 90 (p< .07). TST was experienced more open and with more space compared to Full face mask 90 (p< .01). In the cold environment TST was colder then Full face mask 90 (p< .04) and when changing from the cold environment to room temperature the visibility in TST was significantly worse than in Full face mask 90 (p< .10). The BPDs were judged as equal in discomfort and constraint except for the cold environment condition where TST was experienced as colder than SRV (p< .08) and when changing from the cold environment to room temperature where SRV was experienced as warmer than TST (p< .06)