Comparison of social and culture based risk perception of personal hygiene behaviours

Abstract

This study investigated students' risk perceptions with respect to personal hygiene behaviours (PHBs) from a sociocultural perspective along three dimensions: oral intake, physical contact, and preventative. A framework for an ecological system incorporates personal-social-cultural schemata shaping one's PHBs was proposed. A questionnaire survey and interview were administrated to 113 Taiwanese undergraduates who rated their risk concerns regarding 22 PHBs items; interviews were also conducted post-questionnaire to solicit opinions regarding item responses. A descriptive analysis, t-test, ANOVA, and post hoc comparison were performed for quantitative data analysis while qualitative data quoting students' elaboration on their responses were presented. This study reached three main conclusions. First, there is a significant difference between the risk perception scores of oral intake PHBs compared to physical contact PHBs. Second, the risk perception scores between this study and the American survey differ significantly. Furthermore, 13 of the items are considered to be socioculturally-embedded PHBs, differing substantially between the two study populations. Therefore, this study suggests that, in order to promote health policy and education, biology, society and culture levels need to be considered.