Factors influencing sanitation and hygiene practices among students in a public university in Bangladesh.

<h4>Introduction</h4>Improved hygiene and sanitation practices in educational settings are effective for the prevention of infections, controlling the transmission of pathogens, and promoting good health. Bangladesh has made remarkable advances in improving higher education in recent dec...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Ashraful Kabir, Shuvo Roy, Korima Begum, Ariful Haq Kabir, Md Shahgahan Miah
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/592fc1e6f7cc4531ae0b2fb95e30accb
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:592fc1e6f7cc4531ae0b2fb95e30accb
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:592fc1e6f7cc4531ae0b2fb95e30accb2021-12-02T20:08:06ZFactors influencing sanitation and hygiene practices among students in a public university in Bangladesh.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0257663https://doaj.org/article/592fc1e6f7cc4531ae0b2fb95e30accb2021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257663https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203<h4>Introduction</h4>Improved hygiene and sanitation practices in educational settings are effective for the prevention of infections, controlling the transmission of pathogens, and promoting good health. Bangladesh has made remarkable advances in improving higher education in recent decades. Over a hundred universities were established to expand higher education facilities across the country. Hundreds of thousands of graduate students spend time in university settings during their studies. However, little is known about the sanitation and hygiene practice of the university-going population. This study aims to understand and uncover which factors influence students' sanitation and hygiene behavior in university settings.<h4>Methods</h4>This study was conducted in a public university named Shahjalal University of Science and Technology located in a divisional city of Bangladesh. Based on the Integrated Behavioral Model for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (IBM-WASH), we adopted an exploratory qualitative study design. We developed semi-structured interview guides entailing sanitation and hygiene behavior, access, and practice-related questions and tested their efficacy and clarity before use. We conducted seventeen in-depth interviews (IDIs), and four focus group discussions (FGDs, [6-8 participants per FGD]) with students, and seven key informant interviews (KIIs) with university staff. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Triangulation of methods and participants was performed to achieve data validity.<h4>Results</h4>Despite having reasonable awareness and knowledge, the sanitation and hygiene practices of the students were remarkably low. A broad array of interconnected factors influenced sanitation and hygiene behavior, as well as each other. Individual factors (gender, awareness, perception, and sense of health benefits), contextual factors (lack of cleanliness and maintenance, and the supply of sanitary products), socio-behavioural factors (norms, peer influence), and factors related to university infrastructure (shortage of female toilets, lack of monitoring and supervision of cleaning activities) emerged as the underpinning factors that determined the sanitation and hygiene behavior of the university going-population.<h4>Conclusion</h4>The results of this study suggest that despite the rapid expansion of on-campus university education, hygiene practices in public universities are remarkably poor due to a variety of dynamic and interconnected factors situated in different (individual, contextual, socio-phycological) levels. Therefore, multi-level interventions including regular supply of WASH-related materials and agents, promoting low-cost WASH interventions, improving quality cleaning services, close monitoring of cleaning activities, promoting good hygiene behavior at the individual level, and introducing gender-sensitive WASH infrastructure and construction may be beneficial to advance improved sanitation and hygiene practices among university students.Ashraful KabirShuvo RoyKorima BegumAriful Haq KabirMd Shahgahan MiahPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 9, p e0257663 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Ashraful Kabir Shuvo Roy Korima Begum Ariful Haq Kabir Md Shahgahan Miah Factors influencing sanitation and hygiene practices among students in a public university in Bangladesh.
description	<h4>Introduction</h4>Improved hygiene and sanitation practices in educational settings are effective for the prevention of infections, controlling the transmission of pathogens, and promoting good health. Bangladesh has made remarkable advances in improving higher education in recent decades. Over a hundred universities were established to expand higher education facilities across the country. Hundreds of thousands of graduate students spend time in university settings during their studies. However, little is known about the sanitation and hygiene practice of the university-going population. This study aims to understand and uncover which factors influence students' sanitation and hygiene behavior in university settings.<h4>Methods</h4>This study was conducted in a public university named Shahjalal University of Science and Technology located in a divisional city of Bangladesh. Based on the Integrated Behavioral Model for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (IBM-WASH), we adopted an exploratory qualitative study design. We developed semi-structured interview guides entailing sanitation and hygiene behavior, access, and practice-related questions and tested their efficacy and clarity before use. We conducted seventeen in-depth interviews (IDIs), and four focus group discussions (FGDs, [6-8 participants per FGD]) with students, and seven key informant interviews (KIIs) with university staff. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Triangulation of methods and participants was performed to achieve data validity.<h4>Results</h4>Despite having reasonable awareness and knowledge, the sanitation and hygiene practices of the students were remarkably low. A broad array of interconnected factors influenced sanitation and hygiene behavior, as well as each other. Individual factors (gender, awareness, perception, and sense of health benefits), contextual factors (lack of cleanliness and maintenance, and the supply of sanitary products), socio-behavioural factors (norms, peer influence), and factors related to university infrastructure (shortage of female toilets, lack of monitoring and supervision of cleaning activities) emerged as the underpinning factors that determined the sanitation and hygiene behavior of the university going-population.<h4>Conclusion</h4>The results of this study suggest that despite the rapid expansion of on-campus university education, hygiene practices in public universities are remarkably poor due to a variety of dynamic and interconnected factors situated in different (individual, contextual, socio-phycological) levels. Therefore, multi-level interventions including regular supply of WASH-related materials and agents, promoting low-cost WASH interventions, improving quality cleaning services, close monitoring of cleaning activities, promoting good hygiene behavior at the individual level, and introducing gender-sensitive WASH infrastructure and construction may be beneficial to advance improved sanitation and hygiene practices among university students.
format	article
author	Ashraful Kabir Shuvo Roy Korima Begum Ariful Haq Kabir Md Shahgahan Miah
author_facet	Ashraful Kabir Shuvo Roy Korima Begum Ariful Haq Kabir Md Shahgahan Miah
author_sort	Ashraful Kabir
title	Factors influencing sanitation and hygiene practices among students in a public university in Bangladesh.
title_short	Factors influencing sanitation and hygiene practices among students in a public university in Bangladesh.
title_full	Factors influencing sanitation and hygiene practices among students in a public university in Bangladesh.
title_fullStr	Factors influencing sanitation and hygiene practices among students in a public university in Bangladesh.
title_full_unstemmed	Factors influencing sanitation and hygiene practices among students in a public university in Bangladesh.
title_sort	factors influencing sanitation and hygiene practices among students in a public university in bangladesh.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/592fc1e6f7cc4531ae0b2fb95e30accb
work_keys_str_mv	AT ashrafulkabir factorsinfluencingsanitationandhygienepracticesamongstudentsinapublicuniversityinbangladesh AT shuvoroy factorsinfluencingsanitationandhygienepracticesamongstudentsinapublicuniversityinbangladesh AT korimabegum factorsinfluencingsanitationandhygienepracticesamongstudentsinapublicuniversityinbangladesh AT arifulhaqkabir factorsinfluencingsanitationandhygienepracticesamongstudentsinapublicuniversityinbangladesh AT mdshahgahanmiah factorsinfluencingsanitationandhygienepracticesamongstudentsinapublicuniversityinbangladesh
_version_	1718375241758015488

Factors influencing sanitation and hygiene practices among students in a public university in Bangladesh.

Ejemplares similares