Education of hand hygiene in children during the pandemia

Abstract

Presently, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, proper hand washing helps prevent or at least slow the spread of infectious diseases such as SARS-CoV-2 infection. Proper education in hand washing routines requires multilateral action based on young people's knowledge, health behaviors, attitudes, experiences, and motivations. The TANTUdSZ Youth Health Education Program was implemented with students of contemporary teaching faculties of pedagogical and health sciences as well as with secondary school peer helpers and with the involvement of about 3000 pre-school, primary and secondary school students in Hungary in various fields of health development. One of the aims of the studies was to analyze and compare children's hand hygiene knowledge and skills before and after the pedagogical interventions in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the educational program. The longitudinal survey described in this paper assesses the short- and long-term changes of primary school students' (from class 1 to 4; n = 165) hand washing skills and the attitudinal changes in their health behaviors at three time points. Measurements were performed using a self-completion, anonymous questionnaire and hand-held scanner technology (Semmelweis Scanner), the latter measuring device detecting the purity of different hand areas with quantitative and digital evaluations. The educational intervention was effective in both short and long term compared to input (initial) measurements. However, the results showed a difference in the process of acquiring practical skills. There has been a significant progress in changing attitudes to hand washing. Age-specific health promotion education programs, especially in the pediatric population, should also focus on the long-term preservation of theoretical, practical knowledge, and health behaviors.