Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.
School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Dec 23;20(1):229. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20010229.
Personal and household hygiene measures are important for preventing upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) and other infectious diseases, including coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). An online survey recruited 414 eligible parents in Hong Kong to study their hygiene knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAPs) regarding the prevention of URTIs among their children. The average knowledge score was high (10.2/12.0), but some misconceptions were identified. The majority of the participants agreed that good personal hygiene (93.5%) and good environmental hygiene (92.8%) can prevent URTIs. The average score for hand hygiene practices was high (3.78/4.00), but only 56.8% of the parents always performed hand hygiene before touching their mouths, noses, or eyes. In terms of environmental hygiene, only some household items were disinfected with disinfectants (door handles in 69.8% of the households, toilet seats in 60.4% of the households, the floor in 42.8% of the households, dining chairs in 24.2% of the households, and dining tables in 20.5% of the households). A higher knowledge score was associated with parents having tertiary educational levels or above, working as healthcare professionals, living in private residential flats or staff quarters, or having household incomes of HKD 70,000 or above. The results of multiple regression analyses also indicated that parents who were healthcare professionals and with higher household income had a better parental knowledge of hygiene measures after adjusting the attitude score. For hand hygiene, parents who achieved higher attitude scores obtained higher practice scores. Under the fifth wave of the COVID-19 epidemic, there were some misconceptions regarding hygiene among parents. Any health promotion program should target parents regarding taking proper personal and household hygienic measures, especially for those who had relatively lower socio-economic status and/or from a non-healthcare background. Motivating attitudes toward hand hygiene can lead to better practices.
个人和家庭卫生措施对于预防上呼吸道感染（URTIs）和其他传染病（包括 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19））非常重要。一项在线调查在香港招募了 414 名符合条件的家长，以研究他们在预防儿童 URTIs 方面的卫生知识、态度和实践（KAP）。平均知识得分较高（10.2/12.0），但也发现了一些误解。大多数参与者认为良好的个人卫生（93.5%）和良好的环境卫生（92.8%）可以预防 URTIs。手部卫生实践的平均得分较高（3.78/4.00），但只有 56.8%的家长在接触口腔、鼻子或眼睛之前总是进行手部卫生。就环境卫生而言，只有一些家用物品用消毒剂进行消毒（69.8%的家庭消毒门把手，60.4%的家庭消毒马桶座圈，42.8%的家庭消毒地板，24.2%的家庭消毒餐椅，20.5%的家庭消毒餐桌）。知识得分较高的家长具有高等教育学历或以上，从事医疗保健专业工作，居住在私人住宅公寓或员工宿舍，或家庭收入在 70,000 港元或以上。多元回归分析的结果还表明，在调整态度得分后，医疗保健专业人员和家庭收入较高的父母对卫生措施的父母知识更好。对于手部卫生，态度得分较高的父母实践得分也较高。在第五波 COVID-19 疫情期间，家长对卫生存在一些误解。任何健康促进计划都应针对家长，让他们采取适当的个人和家庭卫生措施，特别是针对那些社会经济地位较低和/或来自非医疗保健背景的家长。激励对手部卫生的态度可以导致更好的实践。
