Evaluation of a hand washing program for 2nd-graders

The purpose of this project was to determine if a multiple-week learner-centered hand washing program could improve hand hygiene behaviors of 2nd-graders in a northern Illinois public school system. Volunteers from the Rockford Hand Washing Coalition went into 19 different classrooms for 4 consecutive weeks and taught a learner-centered program. The program consisted of interactive class discussions and activities using GlitterBug training devices and agar plate materials. A one-factor repeated measure analysis of variance indicated a statistically significant 34% decrease in the absenteeism rate for students in the intervention group. Chi-square analyses on agar plate data indicated that students had cleaner hands after washing. Qualitative data from parents and teachers indicated that a majority of the students were engaging in hand-washing behavior. These results indicate that integrating a learner-centered interactive program in a multiple-week structure can lead to improvement in hand hygiene behavior.