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Does depression moderate handwashing in children?

BACKGROUND: Although diarrheal diseases are preventable and treatable, they are the leading cause of child mortality and morbidity as a consequence of poor hygiene and contaminated water. Handwashing with soap is an effective method for preventing and decreasing the incidence of diarrhea. However, m...

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Autores principales: Slekiene, Jurgita, Mosler, Hans-Joachim
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5540281/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28764758
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4638-4
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author Slekiene, Jurgita
Mosler, Hans-Joachim
author_facet Slekiene, Jurgita
Mosler, Hans-Joachim
author_sort Slekiene, Jurgita
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Although diarrheal diseases are preventable and treatable, they are the leading cause of child mortality and morbidity as a consequence of poor hygiene and contaminated water. Handwashing with soap is an effective method for preventing and decreasing the incidence of diarrhea. However, mental disorders such as depression can substantially moderate an individual’s ability to cope with daily life and can exert a negative influence on daily hygiene activities such as handwashing with soap, especially in children. The aim of this study was to explain the influence of depression on pupils’ hand-washing behavior in Zimbabwe. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, face-to-face interviews were carried out with primary school pupils in peri-urban Harare, Zimbabwe (n = 556) using a quantitative questionnaire to assess handwashing and its behavioral determinants in school settings. The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) was used to assess depression. RESULTS: More than half of the assessed children were depressed. Self-reported handwashing with soap among depressed children was significantly lower than among non-depressed children. Almost all behavioral determinants of hand-washing behavior were significantly lower in depressed children. The behavioral determinants worked differently in the depressed children than in the non-depressed children’s group. The effects of important behavioral determinants on handwashing were moderated by depression. CONCLUSIONS: Depression exerts a negative influence on handwashing in children. These results suggest depression-relieving measures should be conducted together with any water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions to make such interventions more effective.
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spelling pubmed-55402812017-08-03 Does depression moderate handwashing in children? Slekiene, Jurgita Mosler, Hans-Joachim BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: Although diarrheal diseases are preventable and treatable, they are the leading cause of child mortality and morbidity as a consequence of poor hygiene and contaminated water. Handwashing with soap is an effective method for preventing and decreasing the incidence of diarrhea. However, mental disorders such as depression can substantially moderate an individual’s ability to cope with daily life and can exert a negative influence on daily hygiene activities such as handwashing with soap, especially in children. The aim of this study was to explain the influence of depression on pupils’ hand-washing behavior in Zimbabwe. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, face-to-face interviews were carried out with primary school pupils in peri-urban Harare, Zimbabwe (n = 556) using a quantitative questionnaire to assess handwashing and its behavioral determinants in school settings. The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) was used to assess depression. RESULTS: More than half of the assessed children were depressed. Self-reported handwashing with soap among depressed children was significantly lower than among non-depressed children. Almost all behavioral determinants of hand-washing behavior were significantly lower in depressed children. The behavioral determinants worked differently in the depressed children than in the non-depressed children’s group. The effects of important behavioral determinants on handwashing were moderated by depression. CONCLUSIONS: Depression exerts a negative influence on handwashing in children. These results suggest depression-relieving measures should be conducted together with any water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions to make such interventions more effective. BioMed Central 2017-08-01 /pmc/articles/PMC5540281/ /pubmed/28764758 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4638-4 Text en © The Author(s). 2017 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Slekiene, Jurgita
Mosler, Hans-Joachim
Does depression moderate handwashing in children?
title Does depression moderate handwashing in children?
title_full Does depression moderate handwashing in children?
title_fullStr Does depression moderate handwashing in children?
title_full_unstemmed Does depression moderate handwashing in children?
title_short Does depression moderate handwashing in children?
title_sort does depression moderate handwashing in children?
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5540281/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28764758
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4638-4
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