Abstract

Background:Handhygieneisacheap,simple,andaneffectivemethodthatisnecessarilyimplementedincrowdedareas such as schools where infectious diseases can spread easily.
Objective: To improve hand hygiene of students from grade 6 to 8 in a primary school from Canakkale, Turkey.
Materials and Methods: This research was conducted in the educational year of 2012–2013 in a primary school, Kepez, Canakkale, Turkey. The subjects consisted of 185 primary school students from grade 6 to 8. Of these, 161 (participation rate = 87%) students participated. It was an educational study devoted to improve skills about hand hygiene. This study was carried out in three steps. First, a self-answered questionnaire and a standard checklist were used before hand hygiene training. Second, after 1 week from this first step, students were trained for improving hand-washing skills. Immediately afterward the training course, researchers observed each student for the assessment of their hand-washing habits and then filled the skill checklist. The last evaluation was made in the third step after 3 months from the training course. Students’ hand-washing skill scores before and after the training were compared. Statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS software, version 19.0. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. ±
Results: Of 161 participants, 50.1% were boys and 49.0% were girls with the mean age of 12.6 0.9 (min 11; max 14) years.Oftheseparticipants,32.3%werefromgrade6,32.3%fromgrade7,and35.4%fromgrade8;98.1%studentswere living in Kepez and 1.9% were living in village. A statistically significant difference was detected between the first practice, which was made before training, and the second and third practices, which were made after training, in terms of hand- washing skill development (po 0.001). After the training, hand-washing skill scores showed a significant increase than before-training skill scores in both female and male students (po 0.001). Conclusion: In this study, hand-washing skill training was found to be effective. In addition, students were found to be successful on implementing hand-washing skills in the last practice that was done after 3 months from the training course. However, it should be considered that newly acquired behaviors must be followed once in 6 months or in a year with continuity for these behaviors to be permanent and long standing.