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Updated: Nov 11, 2025
A Method to Test the Efficacy of Handwashing for the Removal of Emerging Infectious Pathogens
Published on: June 7, 2017
Duration or technique to improve the effectiveness of children' hand hygiene: A randomized controlled trial
Emine Öncü1, Sümbüle Köksoy Vayısoğlu1
1Community Health Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Mersin University, Mersin, Turkey.
Background:
How to wash hands is as important as when and how often to wash hands for acquiring proper hand hygiene habits.
Methods:
The study aimed to compare the effect of education based on technique or duration for developing children's handwashing skills. The double-blind randomized controlled study was conducted in a primary school between the 10th and 28th of December, 2018 with 155 children who were divided into Group-I, Group-II, and Control groups. One group was taught by a multi-stage technique, the other was by duration-based teaching, and the control group was provided with usual training. Handwashing efficacy was assessed by variance analysis on fluorescent residue after using glo-germ.
Results:
The students' mean age was 9.74 ± 0.69 years, 53.6% of them were girls. Effective handwashing was highest in the Group-I. There was a difference between Group-I and Group-II, and Group-I and Control group in terms of hand cleanness. The frequently missed areas when cleaning hands were palmar surface, dorsal metacarpal area, and fingertips.
Conclusions:
Teaching hand hygiene to children by multi-step technique may increase the handwashing effectiveness. Conducting comparative studies with new techniques including fewer stages is recommended.
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