Abstract:
Many studies have been carried out on hand washing practices among students in other
districts of the country but the focus of this study is hand washing practices among
junior high school students in the Kassena/Nankana West District of the Upper East
Region of Ghana. This study aimed at establishing how junior high school students
perceive hand washing and their hand washing practices both in school and at home.
The practical experiment approach (pre-experimental) which relied on questionnaire
and demonstration was adopted for the study. One hundred and twenty-six (126) junior
high school students were purposively sampled for the study. Descriptive statistics
comprising frequency tables, percentage and charts were used to analyze the data
obtained. The findings of the pre-test results showed that students’ general perception
of hand washing and their hand washing practices were not good. The pre-test results
also show that students’ lack knowledge on the effect and impact of poor hand washing
on their health. After the implementation of the intervention, the results (post-test)
showed that students now have positive attitude towards hand washing and also practice
good hand washing by using soap and warm to vigorously rub their hands and dry them
using paper/disposable towel. The post-test results further revealed that students have
now acquired knowledge on the effects of poor hand washing practices on their health
and the impact of good hand washing practices in preventing diseases. It is
recommended based on the results of the post-test that school management should plan
and adopt hand washing policies for their schools and also ensure that they enforce the
practices captures in the hand washing document among students to improve the health
of the students. Also, school authorities, government and school health-base nongovernmental
organization should come to the aid of the basic schools by providing
them with the needed resources such hand sanitizers, disposable towel, tippy taps,
detergents, alcohol-base rub and soaps for students to use to wash their hands regularly.
Description:
A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of HOSPITALITY AND
TOURISM EDUCATION, Faculty of VOCATIONAL EDUCATION, School of
research and Graduate Studies, University of Education, Winneba in Partial
Fulfilment of the Requirements for the award of Master of Technology
Education (Catering and Hospitality) M-Tech