People shamed into hand washing Most men don't soap!
People are more likely to wash their hands when they have been shamed into it, according to a new study.
The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, looked at responses to electronic hygiene messages displayed in UK service station toilets.
Handwashing is one of the most effective and cheapest ways of preventing illness caused by poor hygiene which causes the deaths of a million people worldwide each year.
It also prevents the spread of flu, and hospital-acquired infections such as Clostridium difficile.
However, scientists at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical medicine wanted to find out the best way to get people to adopt good hand washing habits.
"It's difficult to know what kind of message is most effective at changing this everyday behaviour, so it's important to experimentally test what works best in a real setting, " said Robert Aunger, who led the study.
In the study, researchers looked at how people responded to electronic hygiene messages displayed over the entrance to toilets at UK service stations.
A quarter of a million people were counted using the toilets and their use of soap was monitored by on-line sensors.
They discovered that only 32% of men used soap to wash their hands compared with 64% of women.
Men and women also differed in the way they responded to the electronic messages on display. Women tended to respond to reminders to use soap, but men were found to respond to a more direct message such as "soap it off or eat it later."
However, the message which worked best was "Is the person next to you washing with soap?" suggesting that people were most likely to change their behaviour if they thought others were watching.
Gaby Judah, who ran the study said: "Our findings are particularly important on Global Handwashing Day, when many agencies concerned with improving health worldwide by encouraging people to wash their hands with soap will be looking to use best practice."
Global Handwashing Day is on 15th October.
This article was published on Thu 15 October 2009Image © © Vladimir Voronin - Fotolia.com
People are more likely to wash their hands when they have been shamed into it, according to a new study.
The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, looked at responses to electronic hygiene messages displayed in UK service station toilets.
Handwashing is one of the most effective and cheapest ways of preventing illness caused by poor hygiene which causes the deaths of a million people worldwide each year.
It also prevents the spread of flu, and hospital-acquired infections such as Clostridium difficile.
However, scientists at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical medicine wanted to find out the best way to get people to adopt good hand washing habits.
"It's difficult to know what kind of message is most effective at changing this everyday behaviour, so it's important to experimentally test what works best in a real setting, " said Robert Aunger, who led the study.
In the study, researchers looked at how people responded to electronic hygiene messages displayed over the entrance to toilets at UK service stations.
A quarter of a million people were counted using the toilets and their use of soap was monitored by on-line sensors.
They discovered that only 32% of men used soap to wash their hands compared with 64% of women.
Men and women also differed in the way they responded to the electronic messages on display. Women tended to respond to reminders to use soap, but men were found to respond to a more direct message such as "soap it off or eat it later."
However, the message which worked best was "Is the person next to you washing with soap?" suggesting that people were most likely to change their behaviour if they thought others were watching.
Gaby Judah, who ran the study said: "Our findings are particularly important on Global Handwashing Day, when many agencies concerned with improving health worldwide by encouraging people to wash their hands with soap will be looking to use best practice."
Global Handwashing Day is on 15th October.
This article was published on Thu 15 October 2009Image © © Vladimir Voronin - Fotolia.com
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