Education for Improving Awareness and Practices Regarding Hand Hygiene Among Romanian School Children

Anda-Valentina Trandafir and Lucia Maria Lotrean ()
Additional contact information
Anda-Valentina Trandafir: Department of Community Medicine, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400347 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Lucia Maria Lotrean: Department of Community Medicine, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400347 Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: Sustainable Development Goal 6 aims to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. This study aimed to describe the implementation, effect and process evaluation of an educational session focused on promoting hand hygiene among school children within a school-based health education program. Seven schools from Romania participated in a longitudinal study. Children were categorized in two groups: Intervention (participating in a session in which they learnt about the importance of hand hygiene and the technique of handwashing, as part of a comprehensive educational program) and Control (standard education). Data were gathered through confidential questionnaires at baseline (October–November 2019, 880 participants) and follow-up (December 2020–February 2021, 484 participants); 350 children participated in both assessments. Many children consistently practiced handwashing in several situations at both evaluations. At follow-up, both groups had improved several hand hygiene practices; students from the Intervention group showed a higher handwashing frequency after using the toilet and before meals in comparison with the Control group. The majority of students from the intervention group agreed the program helped improving their handwashing behavior; girls and children with parents of lower educational levels tended to have a more favorable opinion. Consistent efforts and reinforcement are necessary for the maintenance of correct hand-washing practices.

Keywords: education; infection transmission; handwashing; prevention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/1/304/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/1/304/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:1:p:304-:d:1559574

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().