COVID-19 Preventive Measures Among Artisan Women Working with Native Cotton in a Protected Natural Area

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the tourism sector globally. In recent years, tourism in Peru experienced sustained growth, and the natural protected areas (ANP Areas Naturales Protegidas) became consolidated into main tourist destinations. Nevertheless, vulnerable groups like artisan workers have suffered more acutely from this crisis. This study was conducted in the buffer zone of the Bosque de Pómac Historic Sanctuary, with the study population being the artisan women of the native cotton weaving line (of the scientific name of Gossypium barbadense L., a trade product native to the area, which is in the process of extinction and was used by ancestral cultures). The objective of this study is to describe the socio-demographic profile and the compliance with preventive measures against COVID-19 of artisan women for tourism recovery. The research has a quantitative, descriptive-cross-sectional approach. A checklist was given to 30 artisan women specifically from the Jotoro-Jayanca, Pómac III-Pitipo, and Túcume population centers. To test the content validity of the instrument, Aiken's validity coefficient was chosen with 10 assessors who were experts in health and tourism;the items were fully approved and statistically significant (Aiken's V = 1, p = 0.0 01). The data was processed with IBM SPSS version 25, using descriptive statistical techniques. The results showed that 93.3 of the artisans had their vaccination doses and 70% are still not complying with preventive measures such as hand washing, the use of masks, and social distancing required by COVID-19 on behalf of the Peruvian state. It is concluded that interventions are needed to apply protocols when tourism has recovered for personal, family, and community care. © 2022 Copyright for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)