Knowledge and Practice of Handwashing for Preventing Communicable Diseases During the COVID-19 Era Among Students in Rivers State-Owned Universities

Abstract

The study investigated the knowledge and practices of handwashing in the prevention of communicable diseases in covid-19 era among students in Rivers State-owned universities. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. A sample of 400 students was randomly selected from the population of all students in Rivers State-owned universities. A self-structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from the respondents and analysed using SPSS version 26. The research questions were answered using descriptive statistics of frequency and percentage, and the hypotheses were tested using ANOVA at 0.05 alpha level. The findings of the study revealed more than half of students (98.5%) had good knowledge of handwashing. The result further revealed that about half of the students who exhibited poor handwashing practice had a high burden of diseases, while 68.0% of the students demonstrated good handwashing practice. Method of handwashing (F= 4.658, p= 0.010), and level of practice of handwashing (F= 13.595, p= 0.000) had significant influence on the prevention of communicable diseases in COVID-19 era among students in Rivers State-owned Universities while knowledge of handwashing (F= 0.252, p= 0.860) had no significant influence on the prevention of communicable diseases in covid-19 era among students in Rivers State-owned universities. The study concluded that merely knowing handwashing cannot be an intervention for communicable disease prevention. However, when this knowledge of handwashing is translated into handwashing practice is an effective preventive measure against Communicable diseases in the COVID-19 era among students. It was recommended among others that University management should encourage handwashing among students by providing soap and water facilities in appropriate areas around the school environment and teachers should encourage handwashing among the students by enlightening them on the benefits of handwashing in preventing diseases.