Hand washing practices of students in junior high schools (a selection of T. I. Ahmadiyya Junior High School)

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.