Survey for Hygiene Behavior on Healthcare Personnel by Hygiene Inventory 23

Kim, Kwang Soon; Jeong, Jae Sim; Choi, Sang Ho

Abstract

BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study was to survey hygiene behavior of healthcare personnel according to the Hygiene Inventory 23 (HI23) and to use the results in education and research for promoting hygiene behaviors.
METHODS
We sampled a total of 400 people with 50 from each job category. The sample was obtained through convenient sampling among 8,200 employees working at a tertiary-care hospital with 2,600 beds in Seoul. The HI23 consisted of 5 subscales and 8 questions on general hygiene, 3 on household hygiene, 3 on food-related hygiene, 5 on hand hygiene methods, and 4 on personal hygiene, resulting in a total of 23 questions. The researcher also added 14 questions on the general characteristics of the subjects. The self-administered questionnaires were distributed on October 2009 and analyzed blindly.
RESULTS
The average total score for hygiene behavior was 3.04+/-0.44 (maximum of 4). In the subcategory of hygiene behavior, the mean score was 3.20+/-4.24 for general hygiene, 3.07+/-0.68 for household hygiene, 3.07+/-0.68 for food-related hygiene, 2.91+/-0.69 for hand hygiene methods, and 2.97+/-0.48 for personal hygiene. When factors affecting the level of hygiene behavior were identified through multivariate regression analysis, independent factors were found to be gender (female), job category (food-related job), experience in hand hygiene education, and experience in teaching hand hygiene or general hygiene.
CONCLUSION
Programs and education adapted to the characteristics of each job category in hospitals are needed to promote hygiene behaviors such as general hygiene, hand hygiene methods, household hygiene, food-related hygiene, and personal hygiene.