Hand Sanitiser Provision for Reducing Illness Absences in Primary School Children: A Cluster Randomised Trial

Priest, Patricia; McKenzie, Joanne E.; Audas, Rick; Poore, Marion R; Brunton, Cheryl; Reeves, Lesley

doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001700

Cited by 29 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Our results differed from these, probably because the strategy of the educational program was different (we reinforced handwashing education during the follow‐up, pupils washed their hands more frequently), the size of the sample was larger, and the tracking period of our study was longer (in other studies they have lasted under 12 weeks, not including peak periods for respiratory infections). No respiratory infection reduction was observed in randomized study by Priest . This is not the same as our study, because we only provided hand hygiene education and hand sanitizer in the EG.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 56%

Hand Hygiene Program Decreases School Absenteeism Due to Upper Respiratory Infections

Azor-Martínez

Cobos‐Carrascosa

Seijas-Vazquez

et al. 2016

Journal of School Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 56%

Hand Hygiene Program Decreases School Absenteeism Due to Upper Respiratory Infections

Azor-Martínez

Cobos‐Carrascosa

Seijas-Vazquez

et al. 2016

Journal of School Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Effective hand hygiene practice in community settings, has demonstrated a reduction of infections occurring in childcare [7][8][9][10], schools [2,[11][12][13], and in the home [14][15][16]. According to Aiello et.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visibility and transmission: complexities around promoting hand hygiene in young children – a qualitative study

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Effective hand hygiene practice can reduce transmission of diseases such as respiratory tract infections (RTIs) and gastrointestinal infections, especially in young children. While hand hygiene has been widely promoted within Australia, primary care providers’ (PCPs) and parents’ understanding of hand hygiene importance, and their views on hand hygiene in reducing transmission of diseases in the community are unclear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the views of PCPs and parents of young children on their knowledge and practice of hand hygiene in disease transmission. Methods Using a cross-sectional qualitative research design, we conducted 30 in-depth interviews with PCPs and five focus groups with parents ( n = 50) between June 2014 and July 2015 in Melbourne, Australia. Data were thematically analysed. Results Participants agreed that hand hygiene practice was important in reducing disease transmissions. However, barriers such as variations of hand hygiene habits, relating visibility to transmission; concerns around young children being obsessed with washing hands; children already being ‘too clean’ and the need to build their immunity through exposure to dirt; and scepticism that hand hygiene practice was achievable in young children, all hindered participants’ motivation to develop good hand hygiene behaviour in young children. Conclusion Despite the established benefits of hand hygiene, sustained efforts are needed to ensure its uptake in routine care. To overcome the barriers identified in this study a multifaceted intervention is needed that includes teaching young children good hand hygiene habits, PCPs prompting parents and young children to practice hand hygiene when coming for an RTI consultation, reassuring parents that effective hand hygiene practice will not lead to abnormal psychological behaviour in their children, and community health promotion education campaigns.

show abstract

“…A cluster-randomised controlled trial of a novel educational intervention to increase nutrition knowledge in 38 state primary school of Cambridgeshire, UK, comprising 2519 children in class 5 and 6 (aged 9–11 years) showed that the nutrition knowledge score was higher in intervention than in control schools [ 40 ]. In another cluster-randomised trial in New Zealand primary schools, the addition of hand sanitizers in classrooms compared with usual hand hygiene did not prevent disease of a severity sufficient to cause school absence [ 41 ]. Given the similar age group of children (grade level 7), we can compare our study with the Guangzhou, China, cluster-randomised trial on a school-based prevention programme on adolescent cigarette smoking, which had improved smoking-related knowledge but did not change students’ attitudes towards smoking [ 22 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Child Centred Approach to Climate Change and Health Adaptation through Schools in Bangladesh: A Cluster Randomised Intervention Trial

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundBangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. People are getting educated at different levels on how to deal with potential impacts. One such educational mode was the preparation of a school manual, for high school students on climate change and health protection endorsed by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board, which is based on a 2008 World Health Organization manual. The objective of this study was to test the effectiveness of the manual in increasing the knowledge level of the school children about climate change and health adaptation.MethodsThis cluster randomized intervention trial involved 60 schools throughout Bangladesh, with 3293 secondary school students participating. School upazilas (sub-districts) were randomised into intervention and control groups, and two schools from each upazila were randomly selected. All year seven students from both groups of schools sat for a pre-test of 30 short questions of binary response. A total of 1515 students from 30 intervention schools received the intervention through classroom training based on the school manual and 1778 students of the 30 control schools did not get the manual but a leaflet on climate change and health issues. Six months later, a post-intervention test of the same questionnaire used in the pre-test was performed at both intervention and control schools. The pre and post test scores were analysed along with the demographic data by using random effects model.ResultsNone of the various school level and student level variables were significantly different between the control and intervention group. However, the intervention group had a 17.42% (95% CI: 14.45 to 20.38, P = <0.001) higher score in the post-test after adjusting for pre-test score and other covariates in a multi-level linear regression model.ConclusionsThese results suggest that school-based intervention for climate change and health adaptation is effective for increasing the knowledge level of school children on this topic.

show abstract

Hand Sanitiser Provision for Reducing Illness Absences in Primary School Children: A Cluster Randomised Trial

Abstract: In a cluster randomized trial, Patricia Priest and colleagues find that providing hand sanitizer along with hand hygiene education in primary school classrooms, compared with hand hygiene alone, does not reduce school absences. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary

Cited by 29 publications

References 25 publications

Hand Hygiene Program Decreases School Absenteeism Due to Upper Respiratory Infections

Hand Hygiene Program Decreases School Absenteeism Due to Upper Respiratory Infections

Visibility and transmission: complexities around promoting hand hygiene in young children – a qualitative study

Child Centred Approach to Climate Change and Health Adaptation through Schools in Bangladesh: A Cluster Randomised Intervention Trial

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About