Three Kinds of Psychological Determinants for Hand-Washing Behaviour in Kenya

Washing hands with soap at the right times - primarily after contact with faeces, but also before handling food or feeding an infant - can significantly reduce the incidence of childhood infectious disease. Here, we present empirical results which substantiate a recent claim that washing hands can b...

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Main Authors:	Aunger, R., Schmidt, W. P., Ranpura, A., Coombes, Y., Maina, P. M., Matiko, C. N., Curtis, V.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	EN
Published:	2012
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5172

id	okr-10986-5172
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-51722021-04-23T14:02:21Z Three Kinds of Psychological Determinants for Hand-Washing Behaviour in Kenya Aunger, R. Schmidt, W. P. Ranpura, A. Coombes, Y. Maina, P. M. Matiko, C. N. Curtis, V. Washing hands with soap at the right times - primarily after contact with faeces, but also before handling food or feeding an infant - can significantly reduce the incidence of childhood infectious disease. Here, we present empirical results which substantiate a recent claim that washing hands can be the consequence of different kinds of psychological causes. Such causes can be divided into three kinds of control over behaviour: automatic or habitual responses, motivated or goal-driven behaviour to satisfy needs, and cognitive causes which reflect conscious concerns. Empirical results are based on 3-h-long structured observations of hand-washing behaviour in 802 nationally representative Kenyan households with children under five, and structured interviews with the primary female caretaker in these households, collected in March 2007. Factor analysis of questionnaire responses identified three psychological factors which are also significant predictors of observed hand-washing behaviour: having the habit of hand-washing at particular junctures during the day, the motivated need for personal or household cleanliness, and a lack of cognitive concern about the cost of soap use. These factors each represent a different kind of psychological cause. A perceived link between clean hands and sexual attractiveness also appeared in the factor analysis, but was not a determinant of actual behaviour. We also report evidence that those who express concern about the cost of soap use are those with relatively few economic resources. We suggest that those developing hygiene promotion programmes should consider the possible existence of multiple types of strategies for increasing hand-washing behaviour. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 2012-03-30T07:31:38Z 2012-03-30T07:31:38Z 2010 Journal Article Social Science & Medicine 0277-9536 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5172 EN http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Journal Article Kenya
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	EN
geographic_facet	Kenya
relation	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo
description	Washing hands with soap at the right times - primarily after contact with faeces, but also before handling food or feeding an infant - can significantly reduce the incidence of childhood infectious disease. Here, we present empirical results which substantiate a recent claim that washing hands can be the consequence of different kinds of psychological causes. Such causes can be divided into three kinds of control over behaviour: automatic or habitual responses, motivated or goal-driven behaviour to satisfy needs, and cognitive causes which reflect conscious concerns. Empirical results are based on 3-h-long structured observations of hand-washing behaviour in 802 nationally representative Kenyan households with children under five, and structured interviews with the primary female caretaker in these households, collected in March 2007. Factor analysis of questionnaire responses identified three psychological factors which are also significant predictors of observed hand-washing behaviour: having the habit of hand-washing at particular junctures during the day, the motivated need for personal or household cleanliness, and a lack of cognitive concern about the cost of soap use. These factors each represent a different kind of psychological cause. A perceived link between clean hands and sexual attractiveness also appeared in the factor analysis, but was not a determinant of actual behaviour. We also report evidence that those who express concern about the cost of soap use are those with relatively few economic resources. We suggest that those developing hygiene promotion programmes should consider the possible existence of multiple types of strategies for increasing hand-washing behaviour. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
format	Journal Article
author	Aunger, R. Schmidt, W. P. Ranpura, A. Coombes, Y. Maina, P. M. Matiko, C. N. Curtis, V.
spellingShingle	Aunger, R. Schmidt, W. P. Ranpura, A. Coombes, Y. Maina, P. M. Matiko, C. N. Curtis, V. Three Kinds of Psychological Determinants for Hand-Washing Behaviour in Kenya
author_facet	Aunger, R. Schmidt, W. P. Ranpura, A. Coombes, Y. Maina, P. M. Matiko, C. N. Curtis, V.
author_sort	Aunger, R.
title	Three Kinds of Psychological Determinants for Hand-Washing Behaviour in Kenya
title_short	Three Kinds of Psychological Determinants for Hand-Washing Behaviour in Kenya
title_full	Three Kinds of Psychological Determinants for Hand-Washing Behaviour in Kenya
title_fullStr	Three Kinds of Psychological Determinants for Hand-Washing Behaviour in Kenya
title_full_unstemmed	Three Kinds of Psychological Determinants for Hand-Washing Behaviour in Kenya
title_sort	three kinds of psychological determinants for hand-washing behaviour in kenya
publishDate	2012
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5172
_version_	1764394206852284416

Three Kinds of Psychological Determinants for Hand-Washing Behaviour in Kenya

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