Nurses’ Attitudes and Perceptions towards Hand Hygiene in Mental Health and Medical Inpatient Settings: Comparative, Cross-Sectional Study

Dickens, Geoffrey, Goko, Charlotte and Ryan, Emina (2020) Nurses’ Attitudes and Perceptions towards Hand Hygiene in Mental Health and Medical Inpatient Settings: Comparative, Cross-Sectional Study. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 41 (11). pp. 1011-1018. ISSN 0161-2840

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Abstract

Poor hand hygiene is a major contributor to hospital acquired infection. In this study, a comparison of the related attitudes of psychiatric and non-psychiatric nurses was made using a cross-sectional survey design. N = 79 nurses who work in psychiatric or non-psychiatric hospital wards completed questionnaires regarding intended compliance with hand-washing protocols and potential cognitive predictors of compliance. Perceived ease of compliance and behavioural norms, and working in a non-psychiatric ward, predicted superlative intended compliance. Working in psychiatry did not in itself predict outgroup membership suggesting that psychiatric ward-related factors, rather than psychiatric nurse-related factors are most relevant in determining between-group differences. Consideration of factors unique to psychiatry wards during service design could improve compliance.

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