Factors Affecting Performance of Hand Hygiene by Parents of Hospitalized Infants

Purpose: Purpose of this study was to identify factors affecting the performance of hand hygiene by parents of hospitalized infants. Methods: The study was conducted with 209 parents of hospitalized infants from one hospital in Changwon. Data were collected from June through August, 2014 and analyzed using SPSS Win 18.0 program. Results: There were positive correlations between performance of hand hygiene and perceptions of sanitary formula bottle (r = .586, p < .001), attitude to hand hygiene (r = .438, p < .001), and knowledge of hand hygiene (r = .405, p < .001) and between parent efficacy and perceptions of sanitary formula bottle (r = .572, p < .001). Awareness of perceptions of sanitary for-mula bottle (β = .308, p < .001), parent efficacy (β = .281, p < .001) and hand hygiene attitude (β = .207, p < .001) were significant predictors of hand hygiene performance and explained 46.1% of the variance. Conclusion: To increase infection control medical institutions should provide education on hand hygiene and training for parents of hospitalized infants. In order to enhance the performance of hand hygiene, it is necessary to develop and apply nursing programs for hospitalized infants that include hand hygiene attitude, maintenance of the sanitary formula bottle and parent efficacy.