Hand-washing activities through student-led action research

Abstract Background The effects of student-led hand-washing promotion activities can be strategically expanded to other activities. Purpose We aimed to compare the outcomes of hand-washing education among elementary and junior high school students to determine whether new education should be provided to high school students. In addition, we aimed to observe changes in the attitudes of student researchers, who participated in the research activity, toward hand-washing, using action research methods. The ultimate goal of this project was to encourage students to naturally become interested in other health education topics as a result of the hand-washing experiment, and for them to voluntarily participate in health education outreach activities in the local community, thereby making the field self-sustaining. Methods The Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) test was used to objectively evaluate the effective performance of hand washing. Some students participated in the research activities, and were divided into three groups, the “blind,” “watch only,” and “education“ groups. The analysis included the data of 101 participants who participated in two tests before and after the program. Results In the blind group, post-program ATP values were lower than those at baseline (p < 0.01). In all the groups, the students were more likely to wash six parts of their hands after the program than before. Further stratified results showed that removal rates at the final test differed between groups (p < 0.05). Conclusion This study suggests that high school students already understand proper hand-washing techniques and have previously received school-based hand-washing education. Therefore, when teaching hand-washing to high school students, it is important to emphasize the necessary of consistent practice rather than simply instructing them on the method. The results also suggest that student-led health education can positively influence not only the students’ own behavior but also that of others. In the future, we aim to implement more student-led activities on other school health topics.