Themes from study 2
| Theme | Illustrative quotations |
| Excitement and optimism about a novel prevention method | ‘Then, when this came along it was like lightbulbs going off. I'm thinking, oh my God, this is going to be a way that I can safeguard myself and continue to be active within his life. I'm really excited about the uses of it.’ (Participant 10) ‘I would quite happily give it a go.’ (Participant 11) ‘A hundred per cent I'd be up for giving it a go.’ (Participant 5) ‘I will give it a go I can tell you that now.’ (Participant 6) |
| Identifying first signs of infection | ‘I tend to just feel more rundown, tired, a bit headachy.’ (Participant 7) ‘A lot of the times when I'm sneezing it’s just because of my hay fever. It was quite difficult to tell.’ (Participant 9) ‘If I know it’s coming, by the time I’m doing something about it, I guess because my immune system’s got no great strength, it’s almost like too little, too late.’ (Participant 10) |
| Considering use in risky situations | ‘I can say, “Well, I've got to go out. There’s a chance I may be in contact with other people, so I'll use the spray.” It’s like another layer of protection.’ (Participant 12) ‘COVID-19 makes it more appealing, actually. I was quite intrigued about whether it would work for COVID.’ (Participant 11) ‘I don’t know, on a bus, supermarket, at the cinema, at the theatre… Like when you get home from the theatre you could start using it then, even if you haven’t had any signs of anything. That was something that I thought was really useful to have. I could see that scenario.’ (Participant 10) |
| Consequences of feeling protected | ‘…that could only be helpful. I’m genuinely interested from those points of view, because I could get protection in the small part of my life where I’m allowing myself to be at risk, plus I think if I felt safer, I might therefore go out more and feel less frightened about the world.’ (Participant 10) ‘It just meant that I could get on with things. Did I feel invincible? No, but I felt like I didn’t have to worry too much, whereas I think if I was coming down with a cold I would have worried about work and being ill and not being able to complete work. I felt more relaxed, maybe, more confident.’ (Participant 11) ‘But then would it encourage more people to actually go out and be slightly more reckless with sprays and masks and protection, washing their hands, touching their face because they're going, “Oh, I’m using the spray, it’s okay.” That’s the other side of it.’ (Participant 12) |
| Concerns about medicines | ‘Part of it is because I don’t like using medications, and I particularly don't like nasal sprays. I think over the last year or so I’ve used far too many and I’m a bit fed up of putting things in my nose. I think there’s something off-putting about that.’ (Participant 11) ‘I mean, to be fair, if it worked and it stopped me taking my medication, I’d much rather use a spray than medicine.’ (Participant 8) ‘At the same time, I was like, oh, well if you don’t have to ask a doctor and it’s not an actual medication is it actually going to work?’ (Participant 9) |
| Unpleasantness and hygiene | ‘It’s not particularly pleasant, is it, watching people sticking things up their noses and their noses run and stuff.’ (Participant 11) ‘You spray it up and then it all runs down. That sounds disgusting.’ (Participant 4) ‘I was also worried that if I used it, it would pour everywhere. It didn't really.’ (Participant 9) ‘I wouldn’t [re]use anything that went into an orifice like an inhaler, or something I stuck up my nose, I wouldn’t keep it and use it for another time.’ (Participant 10) |
| Familiarity and confidence | ‘I’m not very good at stuff like that. …I don’t think I’ve ever really tried one [a nasal spray]. I’m just kind of wary of it.’ (Participant 9) ‘It’s common sense really. I’ve been using a [different type of] spray for years.’ (Participant 4) ‘It’s so straightforward using a nasal spray… I wouldn’t bother with the video… Particularly at my age range, you’ve probably used nasal sprays several if not many times over your lifetime so you just would just use it.’ (Participant 1) ‘I think [I was] probably arrogant, I probably thought, “Oh, for goodness sake, I don’t need to be shown how to use a nasal spray!” Although, clearly I did because once I used it as recommended, I didn’t get a headache.’ (Participant 13) |
| Reactions to possible or actual side effects | ‘I think it’s good that it’s listing the side effects, but they’re not severe side effects. Obviously, if they’re only very, very small, like causing a headache, you can take some paracetamol for that. If it stops you getting an infection or prolonging the infection, then a headache, just stopping that is very minor.’ (Participant 5) ‘I’d rather have that then a full-blown infection. That is on the plus side, even if it can cause a headache.’ (Participant 8) ‘I thought I’d try it again, and I did aim it more towards the ear, and although I did get a slight headache, it was much better and it went away very quickly.’ (Participant 13) |