Impact of school health education program on personal hygiene among school children of Lucknow district

BACKGROUND: Personal hygiene plays a major role to promote healthy life. This study was performed to assess the current level of knowledge and practicing behavior in regard to hand washing, bathing, tooth brushing, and taking care of nail and hair. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 800 students of Lucknow district. All the students were interviewed with a structured questionnaire (pretest). A visual display of good and bad personal hygiene was shown on projector and explained the benefits of good personal hygiene behavior. Again, structured questionnaire was given (posttest). RESULTS: Most of the students belonged to the 10–12 years age group. The knowledge of the students regarding general body cleanliness was 87.5% in posttest as compared to 53.8% in pretest. Keeping the hair well-trimmed was considered as a part of personal hygiene by 38.0% of students. Knowledge about eating less food in diarrhea was positive in 80% of students. Only 12.5% of students accepted that diarrhea can kill children (pretest) while 100% (posttest) children were aware of this fact. Practice regarding change of clothes was on alternate day in 79.5% of students. Most of the students were found washing their hair once a week (72.5%) and 70% students were washing hands before meal. CONCLUSION: Overall trend of knowledge and practice about personal hygiene was in poor condition among students at the time of pretest. Posttest results were highly satisfactory.