Impact of Infectious Disease Prevention Education Program on Hand Hygiene Awareness and Attitudes in Elementary...

In 2024, the Chungnam Center for Infectious Diseases Control and Prevention implemented an infectious disease prevention education program for elementary school students in Chungnam Province, the Republic of Korea. The program, titled Dream Tree Infectious Disease Safe School, was conducted between May and November 2024.

Fifteen elementary schools without school nurses and with fewer than 50 students participated, totaling 353 students. To evaluate the program effectiveness, surveys assessing handwashing awareness and attitudes were administered before, immediately after, and three months following the education session.

Awareness and attitudes were scored on a scale of 0 to 100. Both handwashing awareness and attitudes improved after the educational intervention compared with baseline levels. The mean awareness score increased from 85.7±17.3 before education to 93.5±12.4 after education. Similarly, the mean attitude score increased from 85.2±21.2 to 91.7±17.8 after the intervention. Three months after the education, handwashing awareness remained above the pre-education level (89.7±15.7). Overall, awareness scores exceeded attitude scores after the program. Differences were also observed by student characteristics. Female students demonstrated higher awareness scores than male students both before and after education. Students in upper grades (grades 4-6) showed higher awareness and attitude scores than lower grades students (grades 1-3) after education.

These findings suggest that infectious disease prevention education can effectively improve handwashing awareness and attitudes among elementary school students. The results highlight the importance of providing regular, tailored infectious disease prevention education that considers student gender and grade level.