Effectiveness of “Hand Hygiene Fun Month” for Kindergarten Children: A Pilot Quasi-Experimental Study

Abstract

Early childhood is a formative period during which healthy habits are developed, including proper hand hygiene practices. The aim of this quasi-experimental study was to determine the effectiveness of a 4-week series of educational sessions that consider the cognitive developmental stage of children on increasing their knowledge and promoting hand hygiene practices. The intervention group (n = 33) observed the hand hygiene program, whereas another group served as the waitlist control (n = 20). Creative activities were planned for the illustration of hand hygiene concepts in terms of “right moments”, “right steps”, and “right duration”. Hand sanitizer coverage was evaluated using a hand scanner. After the intervention, the experimental group had higher knowledge level toward hand hygiene than the control group (p < 0.001). Significant improvements in hand hygiene performance at the left palm and dorsum (p < 0.05), right palm (p < 0.05), and overall hand coverage (p < 0.05) were observed in the experimental group. The study demonstrated that the knowledge and proper hand hygiene (HH) practice of children can be positively influenced by the use of an age-appropriate education program. The results of this study have implications for school health educators and parents for promoting HH practices among children at home and at the school level.

Hand hygiene knowledge and demonstrated technique among Malawian kindergarten children: A quasi‐experimental study

“…However, in both situations, the effect of the HHP was statistically significant ( p = 0.001). The findings of this study are similar to many studies which have demonstrated that knowledge level increases after the implementation of hand hygiene training (Lee et al, 2015 ; Mbakaya et al, 2017 , 2019 ; Suen & Cheung, 2020 ; Younie et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Kindergarten is the most vulnerable group of children who are yet to fully develop lifesaving skills such as a systematic handwashing technique. This group lacks fully developed fine motor skills (Suen & Cheung, 2020 ). Therefore, it is essential to invest in this age group in order to prevent respiratory infections and diarrhoeal disease which can be fatal and are predominantly transmitted through contaminated hands.…”

“…Increased incidents of communicable diseases are often aggravated by poor hygiene practices and insufficient sanitary conditions (Freeman et al, 2017 ). Inappropriate and ineffective hand hygiene in kindergarten children are well documented to cause common infectious diseases such as diarrhoeal and respiratory infections, which are also the two most common causes of death in children (Mbakaya, 2022 ; Mbakaya et al, 2017 ; Suen & Cheung, 2020 ; Younie et al, 2020 ). Kindergarten children are at a higher risk for infection because of their immature immune systems, more frequent social mixing and underdeveloped fine motor skills to practice proper handwashing techniques (Suen & Cheung, 2020 ; Younie et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Inappropriate and ineffective hand hygiene in kindergarten children are well documented to cause common infectious diseases such as diarrhoeal and respiratory infections, which are also the two most common causes of death in children (Mbakaya, 2022 ; Mbakaya et al, 2017 ; Suen & Cheung, 2020 ; Younie et al, 2020 ). Kindergarten children are at a higher risk for infection because of their immature immune systems, more frequent social mixing and underdeveloped fine motor skills to practice proper handwashing techniques (Suen & Cheung, 2020 ; Younie et al, 2020 ). Therefore, healthy lifestyle behaviours, such as proper handwashing techniques, must be introduced and promoted in the early developmental stage to enhance healthy lifestyle choices.…”

“…Recent studies have reported that this technique could be complex for young children considering the number of steps involved. It is possible that the complexity of the 7‐step procedure also contributes greatly to non‐compliance, in young children who often struggle to retain and remember information received in bulk (Lee et al, 2015 ; Lee & Lee, 2014 ; Mbakaya, 2022 ; Suen & Cheung, 2020 ). Following this, a simplified 5‐step handwashing technique was developed to reduce the number of steps in the procedure by two from WHO's 7‐step handwashing technique (Lee & Lee, 2014 ).…”