Adaora Elizabeth Obiagwu1
,
O I Popoola2
For correspondence:- Adaora Obiagwu Email: aeobiagwu@yahoo.com Tel: +2348085997383
Published: 04 September 2021
Citation: Obiagwu AE, Popoola OI. Hand-hygiene audit of preschool caregivers in Ibadan, Nigeria. Trop J Med Dent Pract 2021; 2(3):47-54 doi: 10.47227/tjmdp.v2i3.1
© 2021 The author(s).
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..
Introduction: Health- related practices in settings where children or adults cluster are receiving a renewed focus especially with the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Practices such as caregivers’ respiratory and Hand Hygiene (HH) in preschools can directly and indirectly predispose to the spread of infection within daycare/preschool children. Hand-hygiene is affected by several factors at individual, management, infrastructural and policy levels. Studies focus on proximal factors such as availability of soap and water. This short communication article expounds on the intricacies of hand hygiene moments generally in infection, prevention and control of communicable diseases and highlights the socio-occupational factors associated with hand hygiene practices of carers in preschools.
Methods: The study design was cross-sectional. A total of 799 pre-school caregivers were interviewed. The data were statistically analyzed using SPSS software Version 20. Descriptive analysis was performed and showed frequency distribution for demographic information of samples such as Gender, age and school-based variables of caregivers and handwashing moments. This was done using a graduated scale. The summed frequency scoring of the likert scale of caregivers who responded “always washing hands” was dichotomized. Kruskal Wallis test was conducted to find differences in associated factors for each hand hygiene moments.
Results: High frequencies of self-reported hand hygiene is related to type of tasks performed by caregivers and their understanding of risks of major childhood infections.
Conclusion: Salient strategies to improve childcare practices will need to be hinged on practical trainings of caregivers on principles of hand hygiene and scaling up of sustainable hand hygiene infrastructure/facilities in day-cares/preschools.
