The study of the knowledge, attitude and practices of hand washing in rural areas, a case study of Kalisizo subcounty, Kyotera district

Abstract

This study was examining the knowledge, attitudes and practices of hand washing in rural areas. It was based in Kalisizo Town Council, Kyotera district. The objectives were to find out the hand washing skills practiced in rural areas, their knowledge about hand washing. A total of 100 respondents were interviewed from both Kalisizo North and Kalisizo South. Purposive sampling, simple random sampling and stratified sampling were used by the researcher to select the respondents that were supposed to participate in the study. In the study, there were 44 males and 56 females of which 33 were Catholics, 20 were Moslems, 23 protestants, 10 Seventh Day Adventists and 4 Pentecostals. Of the 100 respondents, 82 had gone to school and the remaining 18 had never attended school. According to the study, 11 respondents washed their hands 1-2 times, 47 respondents washed their hands 3-5 times, 25 respondents washed their hands 6-10 times and 17 washed their hands over 11 times. The study revealed that there was a relationship between the levels of education, religion and number of times hands are washed by individuals. The findings also indicated that the knowledge of hand washing are very low among individuals in rural areas with a majority washing their hands less than the 5 times recommended by WHO, therefore there is need for intensive mobilization and sensitization in villages about the importance of hand washing plus the skills and practices.