Acceptability and Willingness of UAE Residents to Use OTC Vending Machines to Deliver Self-Testing Kits for COVID-19 and the Implications

Figures & data

Table 1 Number and Percentages of the Questions on Demographics (n=876)

Demographics	Groups	Frequency	%
Age (mean ± SD)	31 ± 6.5
Gender	Male	324	37
	Female	552	63
Nationality	Emirati	88	10
	Arabic	368	42
	Western	252	28.8
	Asian	92	10.5
	African	76	8.7
Education	Bachelor	740	84.5
	Postgraduate	136	15.5
Employment status	Unemployed	472	53.9
	Employed	404	46.1
Have any of your relatives been infected with COVID-19?	Yes	356	40.6
	No	520	59.4
Have you ever been infected with COVID-19?	Yes	556	63.5
	No	320	36.5
Have you been vaccinated against COVID-19 virus?	Yes	488	55.7
	No	388	44.3

Table 2 Number and Percentage of Questions Regarding Participants’ Attitude

Attitude Items	Agree		Disagree
	N	%	N	%
Using OTC vending machine to deliver COVID-19 self-testing kits is accessible 24/7	628	71.7	248	28.3
Using OTC vending machine to deliver COVID-19 self-testing kits help promote precautionary and preventive measures for COVID-19	784	89.5	92	10.5
OTC vending machine can provide other medicines needed to treat the symptoms of COVID-19	628	71.7	248	28.3
OTC vending machines will be conveniently located (in proximity to me)	708	80.8	168	19.2
Using OTC vending machine to deliver COVID-19 self-testing kits provides a guaranteed confidentiality	556	63.5	320	36.5
Using OTC vending machine to deliver COVID-19 self-testing kits provide a quick service, no need to wait in line (Accessibility and Convenience)	748	85.4	128	14.6
Compared to PCR test, using OTC vending machines to deliver COVID-19 self-testing provides lower costs	624	71.2	252	28.8
Do you believe OTC vending machine to deliver COVID-19 self-testing kits will be beneficial for patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19?	776	88.6	100	11.4
Will you personally use OTC vending machine to deliver COVID-19 self-testing kits?	836	95.4	40	4.6

Abbreviations: F, frequency; %, percentage.

Table 3 Attitude Score According to Demographics

Demographic Variables	Attitude and Perception Score
	Mean ± SD		Median	P-value
Gender
Male	7.67	1.55	7.3	0.008*
Female	7.94	1.30	8
Nationality
Emirati	7.54	1.56	7.12	0.001*
Arabic	7.81	1.40	7.72
Western	7.92	1.37	8
Asian	8.30	1.16	9
African	7.52	1.50	7.11
Education
Bachelor	7.90	1.28	8	0.004*
Postgraduate	7.52	1.92	7.5
Employment status
Unemployed	7.57	1.54	8	<0.001*
Employed	8.15	1.15	9
Have any of your relatives been infected with COVID-19?
Yes	7.67	1.49	8	<0.001*
No	8.08	1.24	7.4
Have you ever been infected with COVID-19?
Yes	7.23	1.61	9	<0.001*
No	8.19	1.13	8
Have you been vaccinated against COVID-19 virus?
Yes	7.49	1.52	9	<0.001*
No	8.12	1.24	8

Notes: *P-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant, P-values obtained from the Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney U-tests.

Table 4 Multivariate Regression Analysis for the Factors Affecting the Using Attitude on Using OTC Vending Machine to Deliver COVID-19 Self-Testing Kits

Factors	Attitude and Perception Score
	B	95% CI		P-value
Being infected with COVID-19	0.667	0.483	0.851	<0.001*
Received COVID-19 vaccine	0.536	0.362	0.711	<0.001*
Female gender	0.235	0.053	0.417	0.001*
Western nationality	−0.282	−0.488	−0.075	0.008*
Have relatives who were infected with COVID-19	0.190	0.010	0.370	0.039*
African nationality	−0.925	−1.327	−0.522	<0.001*
Postgraduate education	−0.358	−0.592	−0.124	0.003*
Employees	0.480	0.304	0.655	<0.001*
Age	0.047	0.030	0.063	<0.001*

Note: *P-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Abbreviations: B, un-standardized coefficients; CI, confidence interval.