Hand Washing Practices in a College Town Environment

Many people do not wash their hands when the behavior in which they engage would warrant it. Most research of hand washing practices to date has taken place in high-traffic environments such as airports and public attraction venues. These studies have established a persistent shortcoming and a gende...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of environmental health Vol. 75; no. 8; pp. 18 - 25
Main Authors Borchgrevink, Carl P., Cha, JaeMin, Kim, SeungHyun
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Denver, CO National Environmental Health Association 01.04.2013
Subjects
Adolescent
Adult
ADVANCEMENT OF THE SCIENCE
Airports
Attraction
Bathrooms
Behavior
Biological and medical sciences
College students
Colleges
Compliance
Demographics
Disease control
Disease transmission
Environment. Living conditions
Environmental health
Faucets
Female
Food safety
Gender
Grooming
Hand Hygiene - methods
Hand Hygiene - statistics & numerical data
Hand washing
Hands
Handwashing
Health
Humans
Hygiene
Male
Medical sciences
Men
Observational research
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
School campuses
Sex Factors
Soaps
Surveys
Toilet Facilities - statistics & numerical data
Towns
Transmission
Universities - statistics & numerical data
University towns
Washing
Women
Young Adult
United States
United States > US
Human
Prevention
Health and environment
Disease
Transmission
Washing
Behavior
Hand
Public health
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Summary:Many people do not wash their hands when the behavior in which they engage would warrant it. Most research of hand washing practices to date has taken place in high-traffic environments such as airports and public attraction venues. These studies have established a persistent shortcoming and a gender difference in hand washing compliance. Using field observations of 3,749 people in a college town environment, the research described in this article replicates and extends earlier work while identifying potential environmental and demographic predictors of hand washing compliance. Additionally, the authors’ research suggests that proper hand washing practices, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are not being practiced. Finally, the authors’ research raises a question as to the accuracy of earlier measurements of “proper” hand washing practices, suggesting that compliance rates are inflated. The results can help increase hand washing rates for the general public and thus decrease the risk of transmitting disease.
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ISSN:0022-0892