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Prevalencia y factores psicosociales asociados a unas mejores prácticas de higiene de las manos durante la pandemia de influenza A/H1N1: Hallazgos e implicaciones de la prevención de un estudio nacional en Taiwan
Author(s) -
Miao YenYu,
Huang JiunHau
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
tropical medicine and international health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.056
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1365-3156
pISSN - 1360-2276
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3156.2012.02966.x
Subject(s) - hygiene , medicine , psychosocial , pandemic , public health , environmental health , population , hand washing , logistic regression , family medicine , demography , disease , covid-19 , nursing , infectious disease (medical specialty) , psychiatry , pathology , sociology
Objective To investigate increased hand hygiene practice in response to the pandemic influenza A/H1N1 (pH1N1) and its associated psychosocial factors in the Taiwanese general population. Methods A national telephone survey using random digit dialing was conducted on October 28–30, 2009 in Taiwan, resulting in a final sample of 1079 participants aged 15 or older. Results Seventy‐seven per cent reported that they increased hand hygiene practice during the pH1N1 epidemic. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that increased hand hygiene practice was associated with health beliefs that pH1N1 was more transmissible than avian influenza (OR = 1.42); that pH1N1 was slightly more severe in Taiwan compared with other countries (OR = 1.59); that handwashing was very effective in preventing pH1N1 (OR = 3.12), and that handwashing after contact with possibly pH1N1‐contaminated objects/surfaces was not very difficult (OR = 2.14) or not difficult at all (OR = 2.49). Conclusions These findings suggest that future campaigns to promote preventive health behaviour in the public should consider communicating evidence‐based information concerning the effectiveness of the recommended preventive behaviour, comparing the emerging epidemic with prior local outbreaks, and not overplaying the seriousness of the disease with fear tactics.