An Institution-Based Assessment of Students’ Hand Washing Behavior

Abstract

Background. Hand hygiene is cost-effective and has been recognized as an effective measure in the control of communicable diseases. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the hand washing knowledge, practices, and skills of students in both private and public institutions of higher learning. Methods. This was an institution-based cross-sectional study that included a mix of 577 university students from different disciplines (49.6% males and 50.4% females) with a mean age of 21.8 ± 3.5 years. Departments were selected at random, and the quota sampling technique was used to select the study participants. Hand washing knowledge, practices, and skills scores were assessed using a structured questionnaire. The differences in scores were further quantified across different factors using multiple quantile regression analysis. Results. The prevalence of hand washing with soap was 10.7%. Also, the majority of the study participants (75.2%) had a poor hand washing practices score. Age ≥29 years was associated with a 6.3% lower median hand washing knowledge score (p=0.039). Also, being in the public institution was significantly associated with 6.3%, 36.0%, and 10.0% lower median hand washing knowledge (p=0.021), practices (p<0.001), and skills (p=0.025) scores, respectively. In addition, being a medical student (p=0.029) and washing hands ≥ six times a day (p=0.008) were significantly associated with an increase in the median hand washing knowledge score of 6.3% and 18.7%, respectively. Conclusions. Educational interventions need to be carried out to create awareness of the importance of hand washing and also to enhance the hand washing knowledge, practices, and skills of university students.

Assessment of Facilities, Knowledge and Counseling on Handwashing of Elementary School Students in the District of North Bogor

“…How to wash hands properly, including rubbing This study shows that gender is not significantly related to students' handwashing behavior. These results are consistent with the results of research in the Cameroon, where there is no gender difference in handwashing behavior 47 . However, research reports in North America provide different fact, where female students tend to consistently wash their hands more frequently compared to their male friends and are more effective than the usage of hand sanitizers, and visual prompts 48,49 .…”

Washing Hands according to the WHO Guideline since the COVID-19 Outbreak in the Context of Medical Undergraduates at a Tertiary Care Center: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

“…wash their hands for 40-60 seconds). Similar results were seen in the study done by Grace M. Mbouthieu Teumta, et al 19 in which 56.7% of the respondents knew about hand hygiene, but more than half (75.2%) did not follow proper hand-washing techniques. Even in a study done in medical residents in Iran, 20 the residents had moderate knowledge but overall poor attitudes and practices.…”

Effectiveness of a Health Intervention using theory of planned behavior on Hand Washing Among residents receiving the COVID-19 vaccine: Randomized Controlled Trial

“…We recommend that enhanced educational surveillance measures, particularly in heavily staffed facilities, can improve compliance with handwashing behaviors and thus improve or reduce the risk of disease transmission [26,27]. Surveys showed that medical students (Medicine/Nursing) had a 6.3% higher median hand washing knowledge score when compared with the rest of the students (P = 0.029), in addition, students who wash their hands ≥ 6 times a day had a 18.7% higher median hand washing knowledge score when compared with those who wash their hands ≤2 times a day (P = 0.008), these students also had a higher median hand washing skills score [24]. The results suggested that medical education can improve people's attention to hand hygiene, which suggests healthy education can have a similar effect on health promotion.…”

“…Previous studies have shown that the majority of the population is not optimistic about the compliance of hand washing behavior [24]. Unfamiliarity with hand washing methods and forgetting to wash hands are important reasons for the low compliance [24,25].…”

“…Previous studies have shown that the majority of the population is not optimistic about the compliance of hand washing behavior [24]. Unfamiliarity with hand washing methods and forgetting to wash hands are important reasons for the low compliance [24,25]. We recommend that enhanced educational surveillance measures, particularly in heavily staffed facilities, can improve compliance with handwashing behaviors and thus improve or reduce the risk of disease transmission [26,27].…”