• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.241-250
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• 2012

Objectives: This study was performed to investigate hygienic behavior of food handlers and general population focusing on awareness of hand-washing and the microbial load of their hands. Methods: A questionnaire survey and microbiological analysis were carried out for sixty-four people each. Samples for microbiological analysis were collected through the glove-juice method from the hands, and were analyzed for the presence of aerobic plate counts, total coliform, fecal coliform, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella spp. according to the Food Code of Korea. Results: In the survey, significant differences between the food handlers and general population (p < 0.01) were found in hand-washing frequency, duration, use of hand-washing agents, washing parts of hands, hand-drying method, and method of turning off water. In eight different situations among the ten particular situations in their daily life, more food handlers responded to wash their hands than general population (p < 0.05). Bacterial load on hands with general population was consistently higher than with food handlers (p < 0.05), however, percentages of positive hands of S. aureus and Salmonella spp. were not. Conclusions: Poor hand hygiene practices were indicated by the positive results for E. coli, S. aureus, and Salmonella spp. on the hands of some respondents in both groups. This study reveals that there is the need for programs or campaigns to increase hand-washing practices of both groups.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.245-254
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• 2014

Objectives: This study was performed to investigate hand washing awareness of females and load of indicator bacteria on their hands. This study focused on the variation according to their age. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire survey and bacterial analysis of indicator bacteria were carried out for 100 Korean women in their age from 20 s to 60 s. Hand samples were collected through a modified glovejuice method. Results: In the survey, significant difference (p < 0.05) was found among the age groups in the use of hand washing agents. The levels of aerobic colony count (ACC) were the highest in both hands among the 20s (p < 0.05). The levels of Escherichia coli were higher in both hands in their 20s and 30s. No significant difference was found in the levels of Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella spp. However, the positive rates of S. aureus (left hand, 37.5~47.1%; right hand, 58.5~62.5%) and Salmonella spp. (left hand, 25.0~52.9%; right hand, 37.5~64.7%) were higher in the hands of the 20s and 30s, and then showed decreasing trend according to increase of age. The effect of hand washing frequency on the ACC level of hands was significant (p < 0.001). Conclusions: These results indicate that there was no remarkable difference of hand hygiene awareness among female age groups. The detection of S. aureus and Salmonella spp. on the hands of some females in each age group revealed poor hand hygiene practices. The significant effect of hand washing frequency on the ACC level suggests that frequent hand washing is helpful to reduce hand contamination.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.128-135
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• 2009

Hand-washing is one of the most important factors in infection control and in preventing cross-contamination. The objective of this study was to investigate female university students' awareness of hand-washing, their hand washing practices, and the difference between their awareness and practices. A self-administered questionnaire survey and direct observation in restrooms were separately carried out in a university campus and over four weeks' period. A total of 97.4% of the survey respondents claimed to wash their hands after using toilet, and 98.2% of the observed students actually did so according to the unnoticed observational study. However, only 6.3% of the students who washed their hands in the direct observation washed for more than 10 seconds, although 46.4% of respondents in the survey reported that they usually wash their hands for more than 10 seconds. Among the observed students who washed their hands, only 0.9% used soap, and 0.9% washed four parts of their hands. Paper towel was the most common hand-drying method in the direct observation and also in the survey. Significant differences were found in duration, use of soap, part of washing, and hand-drying method between the questionnaire survey and the direct observation (p<0.05). This study indicates that there is a noticeable difference between the awareness of hand-washing and hand-washing practices among female university students. Further research should examine hand-washing practices of female university students in restrooms outside the university campus.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.157-163
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• 2014

Purpose: This study investigated the microorganisms in the hand before and after hand washing, using plain and antibacterial soap. The purpose of this study was to provide details, for educational purposes, of hand washing methods that should be used by college students for their hand hygiene. Methods: This study was arranged using a randomized control group pretest-posttest design. Data obtained through questionnaires were collected from college students in Gangwon Province. This study involved three groups under different conditions. The first and the second group washed their hands with plain and antibacterial soap, respectively. The third group members were educated about hand washing and they then washed their hands with plain soap. In addition, we collected samples to investigate the removal rate of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, which can cause bacterial disease, by using sterile swabs from the hands in group 3. Results: The removal rates of bacteria in the first and the second group after hand washing with plain and antimicrobial soap were 62.7% and 76%, respectively. The third group, who were educated concerning proper hand washing, showed a figure of 72.8%. Conclusion: Repeated and more consistent education of college students concerning proper hand washing would be important in order to improve their knowledge, attitude, and performance with regard to hand washing.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.71-82
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• 2013

Objectives: This study was performed in order to investigate hand hygiene practices among food-service businesses employees based on the awareness of hand-washing and load of indicator bacteria on their hands. It focused on the comparison of full-time and part-time workers in food-service workplaces. Methods: A direct-interview questionnaire survey and microbiological analysis were carried out with sixty workers each. Samples for microbiological analysis were collected through a modified glove-juice method from the hands of the food-service workers and were analyzed for aerobic plate count, total coliform, fecal coliform, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella spp. Microbiological analysis was done according to the Food Code of Korea. Results: Significant differences (p<0.01) were found in the survey between the full-time and part-time workers in hand-washing frequency, use of hand-washing agents, and hand-drying methods. More full-time workers responded to washing their hands after preparing food, after visiting outside, after handling raw materials, and before putting on gloves/when changing gloves than did part-time workers (p<0.05). No remarkable difference was found in bacterial load on the hands except in the aerobic plate count between the two groups. The detection of E. coli, S. aureus, and Salmonella spp. on the hands of some food-service workers in both groups revealed poor hand hygiene practices. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that there is a need for training programs in order to improve hand hygiene practices and strict hand hygiene compliance by food-service workers.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.269-274
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• 2018

This study was done to identify the effects of the hand washing procedure poster on the hand washing behaviors after Mers outbreak. Method: This study was conducted by observing a total of 370 people(185 people in no- poster zone, 185 people in poster zone) who used the public restroom. Results: As a result of comparing the hand washing with and without the poster, the subjects who washed their hands with the poster around were 83.2%, which was higher than the 47% of the subjects without the poster. The Time spent on the hand washing was similar between the groups with or without the poster around. Also only 3.3% of the subjects actually completed the entire 6 procedures of hand washing. The subjects who finished more than 4 procedures out of 6 were 17% from the group with the poster around, and 10.3% from the group without. Conclusion: The hand washing poster was effective in encouraging the behavior itself, but not specifically in the right way during the ideal time nor the right procedures. Therefore, verbal instructions made every time washing hands or more visual effective posters are required to enhance the hand washing procedures.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.5714-5722
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• 2013

This study was done to investigate characteristics, knowledge, attitude, and performance on hand washing by nursing students who are prone to have clinical practice. Data were collected from 418 students in 3 nursing colleges from September to October, 2011 using questionnaire. The mean frequency and duration of hand washing were 7.2 times a day and 19.1 sec. The mean scores of knowledge, attitude, and performance on hand washing were 11.34(range 0~15), 3.42(range 1~5), 3.6(range 1~5), respectively. Above a half of students don't know about appropriate duration for hand washing and precautions after washing hands. Washing hands after rubbing nose, coughing, sneezing and handling the money and removing watch before hand washing were little performed. These results should be useful in development of education program for improving hand washing performance of nursing students.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.9 no.12
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• pp.115-122
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• 2018

Dental environments are easily exposed to hospital microorganisms, so the risk of infection among workers is very high. Hand washing is one of the most important and basic way to reduce the risk of infection, as hands are an important medium of infection. Therefore, a convergence study was conducted between hand washing and health belief in orthodontic clinic. Analysis of differences between hand washing and health beliefs showed a significant relationship between importance of hand washing and experience in hand washing education (p=0.010) (p=0.000). Analysis of factors affecting health beliefs showed that the importance of hand washing control (p=0.014) and hands washing education experience (p=0.010) were significantly influencing factors. Infections management education is believed to be highly relevant in establishing a health when increasing interest in dental infections is expected to increase the importance of hand washing, a basic method.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.203-210
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to compare hand washing awareness and microorganism contamination on the hands for evaluating the difference between awareness and conditions of hand hygiene. The average number of total aerobic bacteria and coliform was 2.7 log CFU/hand and 1.8 log CFU/hand, respectively. Coliform bacteria were detected in all of the students tested in this study. The questionnaire survey data obtained via a direct interview were collected from 100 university students with microorganism analysis. A majority (90%) of the students recognized that good hand hygiene is important in order to prevent food poisoning. In the hand washing survey data, the responses suggesting "always washed" from "before eating food", "after handling money", "after finishing study" and "after visiting patients" were observed in 18, 13, 15 and 33 out of the 100 students, respectively. The questionnaire data of hand washing frequency and time duration showed that 14 students and 6 students answered "more than 8 times of hand washing per day" and "more than 30 seconds of hand washing time", respectively. These results indicated that improper hand washing practices and poor hand hygiene were identified in the majority of the students. This emphasizes the difference between awareness and conditions of hand hygiene. Repeated hand washing education about the frequency, time duration and methods is constantly required to improve hand hygiene. Installation of hand washing equipment in the space of a restaurant and cafeteria is suggested for enhancing hand hygiene before eating food.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.30-36
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• 2012

This study was conducted to evaluate the microbiological hazard on nursery school children's hands and to investigate the reduction effect of hand washing education. A total of 59 nursery school children's hands were tested. The average number of total aerobic bacteria was $3.72{\pm}0.38log\;CFU/hand$. Five children's hands(2 male and 3 female) were positive(14.3%) for the coliform bacteria. These results showed that hand washing education are required repetitively. Among the pathogenic bacteria tested in this study, $Staphylococcus$ aureus and $Bacillus$ $cereus$ were detected in 9(25.7%) and 16(45.7%) out of 35 their hands, respectively. Twelve out of sixteen $B.$ $cereus$ isolates(70.0%) produced enterotoxin. The results indicate that the hand hygiene of nursery school children needs to be improved. Comparing before and after hand washing in educated and non-educated group, the reduction effect of total aerobic bacteria on their hands was 0.42 and 0.60 log CFU/hand, respectively. The educated group showed 0.18 log CFU/hand higher reduction effect than non-educated group but microorganism did not eliminate perfectly. From the results, using a hand sanitizer after washing with soap and the continuous hand washing education are required to control the contaminated bacteria on nursery school children's hands.