Hand-to-Face Contact of Preschoolers during Indoor Activities in Childcare Facilities in the Republic of Korea

Hyang Soon Oh and Mikyung Ryu ()
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Hyang Soon Oh: Department of Nursing, College of Life Science and Natural Resources, Sunchon National University, Suncheon 57922, Korea
Mikyung Ryu: College of Nursing, Daegu University, Daegu 42400, Korea

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 20, 1-8

Abstract: Purpose: This study aimed to characterize hand-to-face contact (HFC) in children and analyze the factors that affect HFC behaviors of preschoolers in childcare facilities in Korea. Methods: Thirty preschoolers aged between 13 and 84 months were enrolled with parents’ voluntary participation. Videotaping (10 children/childcare center/2 h) and video reading was performed from 23 November 2018 to 7 January 2019. Results: A total of 2719 cases of HFC were observed in 30 participants within 2 h. The average contact with the facial mucosa (frequency/person/2 h) was 55.6 ± 42.2, of which the mouth (25.4 ± 23.9), the nose (20.4 ± 24.5), and the eye (9.8 ± 11.7) were the most frequent contacts, in that order. The average contact duration (sec/person/2 h) with the facial mucosa was 232.6 ± 169.7, of which the mouth (145.2 ± 150), the nose (57.6 ± 62.2), and the eyes (29.7 ± 42.3) were the longest in that order. The density distribution of the frequency and duration of mucosal contact was wider in boys than in girls. The mucosal and non-mucosal contact frequencies were significantly higher in boys ( p = 0.027 and p = 0.030, respectively). Conclusion: Children’s HFC frequency and duration were highest for the mouth, nose, and eyes. Boys tended to have a higher contact frequency than girls for both mucous and non-mucous HFC.

Keywords: preschool children; self-inoculation; contact behavior; hand hygiene (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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