• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.313-321
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate hand washing practice and proper hand cleansing among first and second year nursing students who are prone to be exposed to nosocomial infections, and to identify the influence of perceived behavior control and self-efficacy on hand washing practices and proper hand cleansing. Method: Data for 91 students were collected from a nursing college in a metropolitan city in Korea. Data were analyzed using descriptive, t-test, one way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple regression with SPSS/WIN 19.0. Result: The mean score for hand washing practice was 38.35 out of a possible score of 48, and the mean sore for proper hand cleansing was 18.63 out of a possible score of 28. The significant factors affecting student hand washing practice were 'residential type' (p=.016), 'perceived behavior control' (p=.021), and 'self-efficacy' (p=.033) which explained 19.9% of the variance. The significant factors affecting proper hand cleansing by the students were 'perceived behavior control' (p<.001) and 'regular exercise' (p=.026) which explained 29.8% of the variance. Conclusion: These results indicate a need for education programs on hand washing including strategies to improve perceived behavior control and self-efficacy to promote more effective hand washing practices.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.427-435
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• 2016

Recently, hand washing has been emphasized as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS) threatened public health. This study aimed to prevent MERS by hand washing frequency and analyzed the relationship between hand washing behavior and trait anxiety, locus of control and health promotion behavior. In this study, 314 nursing students participated in a survey where they could indicate what they did and the frequency of hand washing for preventing MERS. They also responded to questions related to the trait anxiety, locus of control, and health promotion behavior. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression. The frequency of hand washing was highest among the measures that the participants used and it was significantly related to the participants who reported high scores for the importance of hand washing. In addition, the importance of hand washing was impacted by the internal locus of control. Most nursing students who participated the survey acknowledged that hand washing was the most important method for preventing MERS. Therefore, it is important to educate people on the importance of hand washing and pay attention to personal characteristics, such as internal locus of control to promote hand-washing.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.31-43
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• 2014

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship of personal hygiene education and hand-washing practices among adolescents. Then the impact of such factors on the hand-washing practices was analyzed. Methods: The data of the 2012 Youth Health Risk Behavior web-based Survey collected by Korean Center for Disease Control was analyzed using SPSS. Total 74,186 of middle and hish school students were included. Uni-variate analysis was done by complex sample crosstabs and multi-variate analysis was done by complex sample logistic regression. Results: The 26.8% of students experienced personal hygiene education. The students of boys, low school grade, coeducation, metropolitan, high school record and high economic status experienced more hygiene education. The hand-washing practices were high in the students with the experience of personal hygiene education. In the factors affecting the hand-washing practice, the experience of personal hygiene education was consistently significant. If students experienced the personal hygiene education, they showed 20~30% more rates of hand-washing practices. Conclusions: Hand-washing practice was high when experiencing personal hygiene education. The personal hygiene education was necessary to improve the rate of hand-washing practices.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.220-231
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• 2009

The principal objective of this study was to evaluate elementary students' awareness of the importance of hand washing, as well as their hand-washing behavior. The data was collected by self-reported questionnaire from 697 students in elementary schools with serving food in a classroom in Busan. Their hand-washing frequency was high, at '3~4 times per day (37.0%)'. 51.0% of the respondents did not wash their hands that often because they were 'not accustomed' to washing their hands, and 35.9% of respondents regarded washing their hands as 'annoying'. The most frequently reported hand washing agent was 'soap and water (71.4%)'. Approximately 95~98% of the respondents always washed their hands after using the bathroom, 87.9% of them washed their hands before eating food, and 86.7% of them washed their hands upon returning home. However, 27.3%, 34.1% and 65.9% of the respondents did not wash their hands after handling money, after eating, and after coughing or sneezing, respectively. Significant factors related to increased hand-washing frequency were gender (p<0.001) and the period of attendance at kindergarten (p<0.05). The mean scores of importance and performance of hand washing were significantly higher for girls than for boys. The group with higher rate (over 4.5/5.0) for the importance of sanitary hand-washing behavior showed significantly higher scores in hand-washing behavior before serving food and before eating than those of the lower rated group (below 4.0/5.0). This study shows that sanitation education is required not only for food handlers but also for students in school foodservices.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.26-33
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• 2002

Purpose: This is a clinical experimental study aimed to provide basic data to ensure quality care. The purpose of this study is to increase nurses hand washing behavior and decrease respiratory isolation rate of MRSA. Method: This study was conducted in Kangnam St. Marys hospital. The subjects included 5 nurses working at the NS ICU and 165 specimen for nasal swabs and 46 specimen for sputum cultures from 106 patients admitted to the NS ICU. The data were collected from June to September 2000. Results: 1.The percentage of the nurses hand washing was 15.6percent but was improved to 46.5 percent after the educational intervention. In particular, hand washing behavior was increased in situations such as after suctioning, before parenteral nutrition, and after providing hygiene care. 2. Results of nasal swab showed that MRSA isolation rate was reduced from 42.8 percent before the education to 18.6percent after the education. The sputum culture results also showed that the MRSA rate was reduced from 40.7percent before the education to 34.6percent after the education. Conclusion: The findings showed the nurses' strict hand washing behavior and use of disposable gloves and paper towers as well as use of hand sterilization spray by visitors or families can decrease the MRSA isolation rate in the NS ICU patients. Since the NS ICU patients may have respiratory complications due to long-term hospitalization, the nurses regular hand washing is important enough to be emphasized. Future research should be focused on the impact of nurses' hand washing behavior on the incidence of pneumonia, an iatrogenic infection.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.23-32
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• 2017

Although previous studies have emphasized factors affecting people's variety-seeking behavior, research has not been performed to examine the interaction effect of good-bad luck and embodied cognition (hand washing) on variety-seeking behavior. Experience of good and bad luck affects consumer information processing and hand washing is known to reverse the experience of luck. Understanding the interaction effect of good/bad luck and hand washing on variety seeking behavior will shed important light on consumer behavior including choice and product purchase. To do this, a study was performed to investigate the effects of good/bad luck priming and hand washing on variety seeking behavior. Participants were primed with good or bad luck and then were asked to either wash their hands or not. After that, they were led to choose yogurt for the next seven days and the dependent measure was the number of different tastes of yogurt participants picked up. An interaction effect of luck priming and hand washing was found. Results indicate that, in good luck condition, there was no difference in variety seeking behavior between hand washing participants and non-hand washing participants. However, in bad luck condition, hand washing participants chose less diverse tastes of yogurt than non-hand washing participants. Implications of the study findings for the field of consumer psychology and marketing are discussed.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.133-142
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• 2010

This study was performed to investigate awareness of hand washing, hand washing behavior, and the levels of indicator microorganisms on hands of food handlers who work in the food court and cafeteria of a university campus. The three methods used were questionnaire survey by interview, direct observation in restrooms, and microbiological examination according to the Food Code of Korea. A positive attitude toward hand washing compliance was reported by the responded food handlers; however, improper hand washing and poor hand hygiene of the food handlers were recognized by the unnoticed direct observation. Significant differences were found between the questionnaire survey and the direct observation (p < 0.05) in hand washing compliance after using the toilet, duration of hand washing, use of hand washing agent, washing different parts of the hands, hand-drying method, temperature of water, and method of turning off the water. Samples taken from their hands before work showed higher level of standard plate count, total and fecal coliforms, and Escherichia coli than those taken after washing with water. After washing hands with antiseptic liquid soap, the bacterial populations including Staphylococcus aureus on hands were dramatically reduced. This study indicates that there is a remarkable difference between the food handlers' awareness of hand washing and their hand washing behavior. Poor hand washing compliance and hand hygiene were indicated by the positive results of total and fecal coliforms, E. coli, and S. aureus on hands of some food handlers. The findings of this study suggest that the hand hygiene of the food handlers need to be improved. More training/education on hand washing and hand hygiene of the food handlers should be necessary.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.197-204
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• 2007

Objectives : This study was conducted to evaluate the public's awareness of the importance of hand washing and to compare perceptions on the habit of hand washing with actual hand washing behavior. Methods : Data were collected by observing 2,800 participants washing their hands after using public restrooms in seven cities nationwide and by surveying 1,000 respondents (age > 14 years) through telephone interviews using a structured questionnaire. Results : Although 94% of the survey respondents claimed to mostly or always wash their hands after using public restrooms, only 63.4% of the observed participants did wash their hands after using public restrooms. Significant factors related to increased adherence to hand washing were female gender, approximate ages of 20 to 39 years by their appearance, and the presence of other people from the observation. About 79% of the survey respondents always washed their hands after using bathrooms at home, 73% washed their hands before handling food, and 67% washed their hands upon returning to their home. However, 93.2% and 86.3% of the survey respondents did not wash their hands after coughing or sneezing and after handling money, respectively. Although most of the survey respondents (77.6%) were aware that hand washing is helpful in preventing communicable diseases, 39.6% of the survey respondents did not do so because they were 'not accustomed' to washing their hands and 30.2% thought that washing their hands is 'annoying'. Conclusions : This is the first comprehensive report on hand washing behavior and awareness of the general population in Korea. The result of this study in terms of individual behavior and awareness of hand washing are comparable with similar studies conducted in other countries. However adherence to hand washing is still low and needs to be increased. The results of this study can be used as a baseline in setting up strategies and activities to promote adherence to hand washing.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.95-107
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• 2010

Hand-washing is one of the major factors in personal hygiene and public health. This study was undertaken to investigate the hygienic behavior of food-service employees, focusing on awareness of hand washing, hand washing practices, and the load of index microorganisms (aerobic plate count, total and fecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus) on the hands of food-service employees. A questionnaire survey completed by direct interview, direct observation of restrooms by the researcher and trained observers, and microbiological examination according to the Food Code of Korea were carried out. In the survey, a positive attitude toward hand washing compliance was reported; however, improper hand washing and poor hand hygiene of the food-service employees were seen under direct observation. Significant differences (p<0.05) were found between the questionnaire survey and the direct observations in hand washing compliance after using the toilet, duration of hand washing, use of hand washing agents, use of hand washing tools, washing of different parts of the hands, hand-drying method, temperature of water, and method of turning off the water. Samples taken from employees' hands before washing showed higher levels of bacteria than those taken during work and/or after washing (p<0.05). Poor hand washing practices were indicated by the positive results for total and fecal coliforms, E. coli, and S. aureus on the hands of some food-service employees. This study showed that there is a marked difference between the food-service employees' awareness of hand-washing and their actual hand-washing practices. The poor hand hygiene of and improper hand washing by the food-service employees should be addressed for improved food safety.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.123-132
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• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify factors related to hand washing practice among adolescents before and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The study was conducted using data from the 15th~16th (2019~2020) Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey, and the subjects of the study were 57,303 and 54,948 people who participated in the 2019 and 2020 study, respectively. The data were analyzed with frequency test, rao-scott 𝑥² test and multiple logistic regression analysis using SPSS 27.0. Results: Changes in the hand washing practice rate were observed before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in all five behaviors; before eating in school, after using the toilet in school, before eating at home, after using the toilet at home, and after returning home. The study found that the hand washing practice rate increased by 1.21-2.43 times after the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, as a result of logistic regression analysis, the hand washing practice rate before and after the COVID-19 pandemic was related to gender, region, school grade, school type, economic status, health status, and personal hygiene education experience. Conclusion: This study confirmed the importance of hand washing education to improve the hand washing practice rate in adolescents. It is necessary to develop and apply an effective youth hand washing education program in consideration of various variables that appeared as significant factors influencing the hand washing practice rate before and after the COVID-19 pandemic.