Hand washing and Preventive Measures for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus

Abstract

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. Keyword : Hand washing, Health promotion behavior, Locus of control, Trait anxiety