“I Can Sense When My Hands Need Washing”: A Qualitative Study and Thematic Analysis of Factors Affecting Young Adults’ Hand Hygiene
Handwashing is one of the most effective and low-cost public health measures. However, it is often not practiced frequently enough or correctly by the public. Young adults in particular have poorer intentions to wash their hands, frequency of handwashing, and sanitizer use compared to other age grou...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Environmental Health Insights |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/11786302221129955 |
| _version_ | 1811239090321883136 |
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| author | Abhinand Thaivalappil Ian Young David L Pearl Jennifer E McWhirter Andrew Papadopoulos |
| author_facet | Abhinand Thaivalappil Ian Young David L Pearl Jennifer E McWhirter Andrew Papadopoulos |
| author_sort | Abhinand Thaivalappil |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Handwashing is one of the most effective and low-cost public health measures. However, it is often not practiced frequently enough or correctly by the public. Young adults in particular have poorer intentions to wash their hands, frequency of handwashing, and sanitizer use compared to other age groups. Therefore, there is a need to identify barriers and facilitators affecting hand hygiene within this group. The objective of this qualitative study was to apply the Theoretical Domains Framework to explore factors which influence hand hygiene among young adults aged 18 to 25 years old. An online questionnaire (n = 37) and thematic analysis were used to generate 3 overarching themes. The main findings indicated internal factors such as knowledge and intentions; interpersonal factors such as social norms; and environmental factors such as reminders, cues, accessibility, and cleanliness of handwashing facilities determined the level of hand hygiene practiced among young adults. The findings suggest that behavior change techniques such as social comparisons and tailored messaging to suit the needs of young adults may be more effective at increasing hand hygiene. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T12:53:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4e1c20b5496244928edb7344ba89d59c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1178-6302 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T12:53:46Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Health Insights |
| spelling | doaj.art-4e1c20b5496244928edb7344ba89d59c2022-12-22T03:32:24ZengSAGE PublishingEnvironmental Health Insights1178-63022022-10-011610.1177/11786302221129955“I Can Sense When My Hands Need Washing”: A Qualitative Study and Thematic Analysis of Factors Affecting Young Adults’ Hand HygieneAbhinand Thaivalappil0Ian Young1David L Pearl2Jennifer E McWhirter3Andrew Papadopoulos4Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, ON, CanadaSchool of Occupational and Public Health, Toronto Metropolitan University, ON, CanadaDepartment of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, ON, CanadaDepartment of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, ON, CanadaDepartment of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, ON, CanadaHandwashing is one of the most effective and low-cost public health measures. However, it is often not practiced frequently enough or correctly by the public. Young adults in particular have poorer intentions to wash their hands, frequency of handwashing, and sanitizer use compared to other age groups. Therefore, there is a need to identify barriers and facilitators affecting hand hygiene within this group. The objective of this qualitative study was to apply the Theoretical Domains Framework to explore factors which influence hand hygiene among young adults aged 18 to 25 years old. An online questionnaire (n = 37) and thematic analysis were used to generate 3 overarching themes. The main findings indicated internal factors such as knowledge and intentions; interpersonal factors such as social norms; and environmental factors such as reminders, cues, accessibility, and cleanliness of handwashing facilities determined the level of hand hygiene practiced among young adults. The findings suggest that behavior change techniques such as social comparisons and tailored messaging to suit the needs of young adults may be more effective at increasing hand hygiene.https://doi.org/10.1177/11786302221129955 |
| spellingShingle | Abhinand Thaivalappil Ian Young David L Pearl Jennifer E McWhirter Andrew Papadopoulos “I Can Sense When My Hands Need Washing”: A Qualitative Study and Thematic Analysis of Factors Affecting Young Adults’ Hand Hygiene Environmental Health Insights |
| title | “I Can Sense When My Hands Need Washing”: A Qualitative Study and Thematic Analysis of Factors Affecting Young Adults’ Hand Hygiene |
| title_full | “I Can Sense When My Hands Need Washing”: A Qualitative Study and Thematic Analysis of Factors Affecting Young Adults’ Hand Hygiene |
| title_fullStr | “I Can Sense When My Hands Need Washing”: A Qualitative Study and Thematic Analysis of Factors Affecting Young Adults’ Hand Hygiene |
| title_full_unstemmed | “I Can Sense When My Hands Need Washing”: A Qualitative Study and Thematic Analysis of Factors Affecting Young Adults’ Hand Hygiene |
| title_short | “I Can Sense When My Hands Need Washing”: A Qualitative Study and Thematic Analysis of Factors Affecting Young Adults’ Hand Hygiene |
| title_sort | i can sense when my hands need washing a qualitative study and thematic analysis of factors affecting young adults hand hygiene |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/11786302221129955 |
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