Hand Hygiene Behaviors in Adult Individuals During the COVID-19 Pandemic: What Changed?

SAYIN KASAR, Kadriye; KARAMAN, Emine; YILDIRIM, Yasemin

Background: Hand washing is vital to prevent the spread of the agent from person to person during epidemic periods and to reduce the impact of the pandemic on people's lives, health, livelihoods and health system. Objective: This study was conducted to examine the hand hygiene behavior of adults during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was completed between 15 October 2020 and 30 November 2020 via Google Forms with 627 adult individuals. The data were collected with a questionnaire form created by the researchers as a result of the relevant literature review. Results: During the pandemic period, 91.4% of the participants stated that the habit of hand washing increased. It was observed that handwashing status of participants during the pandemic process changed in terms of age group, gender and those who considerg hand hygiene important in combating the epidemic (p<.05). When handwashing behavior of the participants during the COVID-19 pandemic was examined, it was found that only 14.5% of the participants washed their hands before entering a toilet. Nearly all of the participants (96.7%) stated that they wash their hands after using a toilet, 92.7% after coming from outside, 84.1% after shopping, and more than half (52.2%) after meeting with friends or relatives. Conclusions: During the COVID-19 pandemic, awareness of adult individuals about the importance of proper hand hygiene has changed. Handwashing behaviors of individuals in the society change during the pandemic period and this requires the attention of health professionals in particular.

FRIENDSHIP; RESEARCH methodology; CROSS-sectional method; RESTROOMS; HEALTH literacy; HEALTH behavior; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; SHOPPING; QUESTIONNAIRES; HAND washing; SOCIAL skills; STATISTICAL sampling; DATA analysis software; COVID-19 pandemic

Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Hemsirelik Fakültesi Elektronik Dergisi, 2023, Vol 16, Issue 2, p189

2149-0333

Academic Journal

10.46483/deuhfed.1009461