The Effect of the Hand Hygiene Education Program on Hand Hygiene Knowledge, Hand Hygiene Perception, Nasal Staphylococcus aureus Colonization and Hand Hygiene Adherence in Nursing Students

Purpose: This study was conducted to test the effect of the Hand Hygiene Education Program on hand hygiene knowledge, hand hygiene perception, nasal Staphylococcus aureus colonization and hand hygiene adherence in nursing students. Methods: A non-equivalent pre-post test of quasi-experimental design was used. 87 second grade nursing students participated in the study with 43 in the experimental group and 44 in the control group. We used the Hand Hygiene Education Program which was held 5 times over 5 weeks, taking 60 minutes per session. For the analysis, descriptive statistics, chi test, and t-test were used for statical analysis with SPSS 19.0. Results: There were significant increases in hand hygiene knowledge (p=.004) and hand hygiene adherence (p=.002) and there was a significant decrease in nasal Staphylococcus aureus colonization (p=.026) in the experimental group compared to the control group. However, hand hygiene perception (p=.543) was not significantly changed. Conclusion: Findings of this study suggest that the Hand Hygiene Education Program may be effective in enhancing hand hygiene knowledge and hand hygiene adherence. Also this program was effective in reducing nasal Staphylococcus aureus colonization in nursing students. Further studies are needed to evaluate the effects of the Hand Hygiene Education Program on hand hygiene perception in nursing students.