IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i12p6385-d574058.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Evaluation of the Hand Hygiene Behaviour and Compliance of the General Public When Using Public Restrooms in Northern Ireland (NI) during the Initial Weeks of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Aaron Lawson

    (Belfast School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Ulster University, Newtownabbey BT37 0QB, UK)

  • Robert Cameron

    (Belfast School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Ulster University, Newtownabbey BT37 0QB, UK)

  • Marie Vaganay-Miller

    (Belfast School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Ulster University, Newtownabbey BT37 0QB, UK)

Abstract

Background: The ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic has resulted in significant levels of morbidity and mortality worldwide, particularly among the elderly and immuno-suppressed groups. Although adequate hand hygiene (HH) behaviour and compliance is widely accepted as being the most effective self-protective measure in preventing the spread of diseases like COVID-19, previous research suggests that normal hand hygiene compliance is poor, but generally improves during a disease pandemic. This research aimed to evaluate the hand hygiene behaviour and compliance of the general public in the initial weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland (NI). Methods: This cross-sectional study involved the use of infrared-imaging cameras to observe the hand hygiene behaviour and compliance of the general public when using one set of male and female public restrooms. Results: The findings of this study indicated that the level of hand hygiene compliance of the general public was poor in the initial weeks, with 82.93% overall not washing their hands adequately. Conclusions: Inadequate HH behaviour and compliance may have added significantly to the rapid rate of spread of COVID-19 in the initial weeks of the pandemic in NI. Current public health campaigns do not appear, based on this study, to have the desired impact and may need to be reviewed or re-enforced in order to achieve the levels of hand hygiene compliance required to slow the spread of COVID-19 and other communicable diseases in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Aaron Lawson & Robert Cameron & Marie Vaganay-Miller, 2021. "An Evaluation of the Hand Hygiene Behaviour and Compliance of the General Public When Using Public Restrooms in Northern Ireland (NI) during the Initial Weeks of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pande," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-9, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:12:p:6385-:d:574058
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/12/6385/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/12/6385/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aaron Lawson & Marie Vaganay-Miller, 2019. "The Effectiveness of a Poster Intervention on Hand Hygiene Practice and Compliance When Using Public Restrooms in a University Setting," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-12, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. María Gázquez-López & Encarnación Martínez-García & Adelina Martín-Salvador & María Adelaida Álvarez-Serrano & Inmaculada García-García & Rafael A. Caparros-Gonzalez & María Ángeles Pérez-Morente, 2021. "Posters as a Tool to Improve Hand Hygiene among Health Science Students: Case—Control Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-11, October.
    2. Aaron Lawson & Marie Vaganay-Miller & Robert Cameron, 2021. "An Investigation of the General Population’s Self-Reported Hand Hygiene Behaviour and Compliance in a Cross-European Setting," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-12, March.
    3. Dominika Guzek & Dominika Skolmowska & Dominika Głąbska, 2020. "Analysis of Gender-Dependent Personal Protective Behaviors in a National Sample: Polish Adolescents’ COVID-19 Experience (PLACE-19) Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-22, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:12:p:6385-:d:574058. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.