Hand hygiene knowledge, attitude and practices among school children in Northern division, Mbale city.

Abstract

Background: Hand hygiene is very important in preventing outbreak of diarrheal diseases in primary schools. The effective of hand hygiene depend on the knowledge, attitude, and practices of students towards hand hygiene. However, in primary school in the Northern Division of Mbale City, the specific level of knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding hand hygiene among students remains unknown, making planning for interventions to promote hand hygiene difficult to the relevant stakeholders. Major objective: This study examined the knowledge, attitudes and practices of the primary school students in North Division of Mbale city in eastern Uganda. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 314 randomly selected students from selected primary schools in the Northern Division of Mbale City in Eastern Uganda between the months of February and March 2023. The data was collected by trained research assistants. The data was manually entered into Microsoft Excel version 13, cleaned, and then exported to Stata version 15 for analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the levels of knowledge, attitude, and practice among the participants. Furthermore, logistic regression was performed to determine factors affecting knowledge, attitude, and practices toward hand hygiene. The results were presented in frequency tables, indicating their respective proportions for each variable. Results: Out of the 314 participants, the majority were male, 178(56.69%). A significant proportion had moderate knowledge (92.04%), a positive attitude towards hand hygiene 140 (44.91%), and good hand hygiene practices, 281 (89.45%). Female students were 0.7 times less likely to have good knowledge of hand hygiene than male students (AOR=0.7, 95% C.I: 0.326-1.817) while female students were 1.2 times more likely to practice proper hand hygiene (AOR=1.2, 95% C.I: 0.720-2.065). Conclusion: This study indicates positive attitude and good practice, with sex affecting the knowledge of and practices of the participants towards hand hygiene in schools. Gender-inclusive sensitization and providing favorable environment for hand hygiene are recommended to promote hand hygiene in schools.