Use of the Health Belief Model (HBM) to Examine Food Handlers' Practices in Five Stars Hotels at Petra City, Jordan

Abstract

After decenniums of knowledge and technological advancement, a huge number of foodborne illnesses occur yearly around the world; these were occurring mostly as a result of food handlers' malpractices in food service establishments. This study aims to apply the Health Belief Model (HBM) in explaining food handlers' practices. A survey was applied where self-administrated questionnaires were collected from 130 food handlers working in five stars hotels at Petra city, Jordan. Collected data were analyzed using various statistics including descriptive tests, Pearson correlation and, the standard multiple regression. Findings confirmed the significant impact of different HBM constructs (beliefs of proper food handling benefits, their beliefs of expected barriers against proper food handling & their perceived risks of food handling malpractices) on food handlers' practices. The findings also confirmed the significant correlation between proper food handling knowledge as a modifying factor on the HBM constructs.