Abstract
Personal and household hygiene measures are important for preventing upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) and other infectious diseases, including coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). An online survey recruited 414 eligible parents in Hong Kong to study their hygiene knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAPs) regarding the prevention of URTIs among their children. The average knowledge score was high (10.2/12.0), but some misconceptions were identified. The majority of the participants agreed that good personal hygiene (93.5%) and good environmental hygiene (92.8%) can prevent URTIs. The average score for hand hygiene practices was high (3.78/4.00), but only 56.8% of the parents always performed hand hygiene before touching their mouths, noses, or eyes. In terms of environmental hygiene, only some household items were disinfected with disinfectants (door handles in 69.8% of the households, toilet seats in 60.4% of the households, the floor in 42.8% of the households, dining chairs in 24.2% of the households, and dining tables in 20.5% of the households). A higher knowledge score was associated with parents having tertiary educational levels or above, working as healthcare professionals, living in private residential flats or staff quarters, or having household incomes of HKD 70,000 or above. The results of multiple regression analyses also indicated that parents who were healthcare professionals and with higher household income had a better parental knowledge of hygiene measures after adjusting the attitude score. For hand hygiene, parents who achieved higher attitude scores obtained higher practice scores. Under the fifth wave of the COVID-19 epidemic, there were some misconceptions regarding hygiene among parents. Any health promotion program should target parents regarding taking proper personal and household hygienic measures, especially for those who had relatively lower socio-economic status and/or from a non-healthcare background. Motivating attitudes toward hand hygiene can lead to better practices.
Subject
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Reference59 articles.
1. CHP (2022, June 08). Investigates Outbreak of Upper Respiratory Tract Infection. 22 February 2010, Available online: https://www.chp.gov.hk/en/features/20234.html.
2. Burden of disease in children with respiratory tract infections in primary care: Diary-based cohort study;Schot;Fam. Pract.,2019
3. Visiting general out-patient clinic for upper respiratory tract infection: A cross-sectional study of patients’ knowledge, consultation behaviour, self-care practice and reasons for consultation;Tang;Hong Kong Pract.,2004
4. Respiratory Syncytial Virus and Influenza Infections among Children <=3 Years of Age with Acute Respiratory Infections in a Regional Hospital in Hong Kong;Chan;Hong Kong J. Paediatr. New Ser.,2007
5. Rhinovirus infection in hospitalized children in Hong Kong: A prospective study;Cheuk;Pediatric Infect. Dis. J.,2007
Cited by
7 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献