Analysis of hand hygiene belief and practices of health care providers using the hand hygiene belief scale and the hand hygiene practices inventory

Abstract

Objectives: Hand hygiene is vital importance to health-care-associated infections; however, hand hygiene compliance has not been still at acceptable levels. Behavior and psychological frameworks-based interventions is required to enhance compliance. In this context, the current study aimed to evaluate self-reported hand hygiene belief and practices of health care providers (HCPs) rather than observational data to increase hand hygiene compliance. Methods: This study included 468 HCPs working at a university hospital and responded the Hand Hygiene Belief Scale (HBS) and the Hand Hygiene Practices Inventory (HHPI). The responses were scored and given the variables affecting the hand hygiene belief and practices of HCPs, the data were processed by SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) IBM 22.0 computer program. Results: Three hundred sixty-five women, 45 physicians and 271 nurses; (median age 37 years; IQR; 28.0-44.0) were included the study. The median HBS and HHPI scores were 87.00 (IQR 80.0-95.0) and 69.00 (IQR 66.0-70.0), respectively. A significant positive low correlation between the scores was detected (r = 0.369, P < 0.001). The physicians had significantly higher HBS scores, and those working in the ICUs had higher HBS scores. Conclusion: In this study, although scored self-reported hand hygiene belief and practices of health-care providers were acceptable limits; there was a low correlation between the scores, which suggests that there are inconsistencies between behaviours and targeted attitudes. Adaptation to hand hygiene is a challenging and complicated process; to increase compliance further evaluation of individual factors should be meticulously considered.