ASSESSMENT OF THE LEVEL OF PERSONAL HYGIENE KNOWLEDGE AND HEALTH PERCEPTION AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the level of personal hygiene knowledge in university students and assess the level of health perception. This cross-sectional study was conducted with 946 students studying at a state university in Ankara. A questionnaire which included the Perception of Health Scale and questions to determine socio-demographic characteristics and level of personal hygiene knowledge of students was used to collect data. Data were collected by face-to-face survey method. The students ages ranged from 16 to 39 with years. Median score of the students obtained from the questions on personal hygiene knowledge and from the Perception of Health Scale was 24.0 (Min-Max= 0.0-30.0)and 48.5 (Min-Max=22.0-75.0), respectively. While the most accurately answered question on personal hygiene was “Hands should be washed with generous amounts of soap and water after using the toilet” (95%), the least accurately answered question was “It is beneficial to walk around barefoot at home” (37.2%). In this study, the level of personal hygiene knowledge was determined to be higher in students of medical faculty, women, non-smokers, non-drinkers and those who had previous information on personal hygiene before (p< 0.05).A weak positive relationship was determined between the level of personal hygiene level and health perception (r=0.397; p=0.001).It was determined in the study that the students had a good level of personal hygiene knowledge and medium level of health perception.