Key beliefs of hospital nurses’ hand-hygiene behaviour: protecting your peers and needing effective reminders
Katherine M. White A B F , Nerina L. Jimmieson C , Nicholas Graves B , Adrian Barnett B , Wendell Cockshaw A B , Phillip Gee D , Katie Page B , Megan Campbell B , Elizabeth Martin B , David Brain B and David Paterson EA School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove, Qld 4059, Australia.
B Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, 60 Musk Avenue, Kelvin Grove, Qld 4059, Australia.
C School of Management, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street, Brisbane, Qld 4000, Australia.
D School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia.
E The University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Herston, Qld 4029, Australia.
F Corresponding author. Email: km.white@qut.edu.au
Health Promotion Journal of Australia 26(1) 74-78 https://doi.org/10.1071/HE14059
Submitted: 9 November 2014 Accepted: 21 November 2014 Published: 7 April 2015
Abstract
Issues addressed: Hand hygiene in hospitals is vital to limit the spread of infections. This study aimed to identify key beliefs underlying hospital nurses’ hand-hygiene decisions to consolidate strategies that encourage compliance.
Methods: Informed by a theory of planned behaviour belief framework, nurses from 50 Australian hospitals (n = 797) responded to how likely behavioural beliefs (advantages and disadvantages), normative beliefs (important referents) and control beliefs (barriers) impacted on their hand-hygiene decisions following the introduction of a national ‘5 moments for hand hygiene’ initiative. Two weeks after completing the survey, they reported their hand-hygiene adherence. Stepwise regression analyses identified key beliefs that determined nurses’ hand-hygiene behaviour.
Results: Reducing the chance of infection for co-workers influenced nurses’ hygiene behaviour, with lack of time and forgetfulness identified as barriers.
Conclusions: Future efforts to improve hand hygiene should highlight the potential impact on colleagues and consider strategies to combat time constraints, as well as implementing workplace reminders to prompt greater hand-hygiene compliance.
So what?: Rather than emphasising the health of self and patients in efforts to encourage hand-hygiene practices, a focus on peer protection should be adopted and more effective workplace reminders should be implemented to combat forgetting.
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