The Impact of an Interactive Educational Program to Improve Hand-washing Compliance among Preschoolers in a Hungarian Kindergarten

Background: Hand wash morale is changing among health workers and, despite many efforts; it is not always possible to achieve lasting improvement. Considering the fact that today’s preschoolers are tomorrow’s health workers, hand washing is one of the habits that should be strictly acquired earlier in life. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether hand washes morale among preschoolers can be improved by introducing a regular educational program. Methods: As a part of the collaboration between the County Hospital and an urban kindergarten, we have developed an interactive educational program that involves both health professionals and kindergarten teachers. The program disseminated information about hand washing and hand hygiene through children’s stories, songs, video films, hand washing puzzles, and board games. Kindergarten teachers held the training sessions twice a week. Before and after the introduction of the program, we examined the children’s hand washing patterns using a UV light kit. Results: Before the introduction of the educational program, only 12.3% of children were able to wash their hands properly. This figure increased to 44.3% after the introduction of the interactive educational program. There were no significant differences between boys and girls, neither in the pre-intervention nor in the post-intervention phase. Conclusions: Hand wash morale for preschool children can be improved through regular interactive educational programs. Through these, children can be induced to compete among themselves to have a cleaner hand. In our opinion, this can be transformed into a multiplier that needs to be further strengthened in the elementary school.