Impact of an AI-enabled UV Hand Hygiene Intervention in Primary Schools: a Community Intervention Study

Institut Catala de Salut

Status: Completed

Conditions: Intervention in Hand Hygiene for Infectious Diseases Prevention

Treatments: Behavioral: Hand hygiene intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07160842

Handhygiene_sentinelschools

Details and patient eligibility

About

Background Hand hygiene refers to the practice of keeping hands clean to prevent the spread of disease. Hand hygiene workshops are an important tool to educate students about the importance of keeping their hands clean and healthy.

Objectives The primary objective of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational intervention previously used in other settings that incorporates a fluorescence-based device to quantify the quality of hand hygiene in real time, together with a training workshop for students, with the aim of improving health promotion and prevention in the short and medium term (1, 3, and 6 months).

Methods This is a sub-study of the Sentinel Schools Project. It is a controlled before-after study with school level allocation using a single matched pair (1 intervention school; 1 control school) and repeated measures conducted in schools belonging to the Sentinel Schools network within the Camp de Tarragona health region. The study population comprises students enrolled in primary education at these schools. The project field team carried out a pre-intervention assessment of handwashing quality in both study arms using a device that uses fluorescence to detect adequately washed areas of the hand. In the intervention arm, an educational training session on hand hygiene was delivered, followed by post-intervention assessments at short and medium term in both study arms. To examine the acceptability of the intervention, an ad hoc questionnaire was administered to the teachers who supervise the participating classes and also focal groups and enterprises were made to access the acceptability of the intervention.

Statistical Analysis Frequencies and percentages will be calculated for qualitative variables; for quantitative variables, the mean and standard deviation, as well as minimum and maximum values, will be reported. Ninety-five percent confidence intervals will be presented for means and for proportions. Bivariate analyses for quantitative variables will be performed, estimating Pearson correlation coefficients and/or linear regression.

Enrollment: 148 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 8 to 12 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• students attending third- to sixth-grade of enrolled primary school

Exclusion criteria

• physical or intellectual disabilities precluding correct hand hygiene
• allergy/contraindication to alcohol-based hand rub (ABHR)
• <80% school attendance.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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148 participants in 2 patient groups

Intervention group

Experimental group

Description:

The educational intervention consisted of a two-part training session: (i) a thirty-minute didactic session introducing the 7-step alcohol-based hand rub (ABHR) technique (14), the importance of proper hand hygiene for infection prevention; and (ii) a practical component on hand hygiene with real-time feedback

Treatment:

Behavioral: Hand hygiene intervention

Control group

No Intervention group

Description:

The control group received the hand hygiene evaluation visits without the educational session