Assessment of Compliance to Hand Washing Guidelines amongst Food Handlers in Selected Fast-Food in Abia State

Abstract

This research was conducted to assess the level of compliance to hand washing guidelines among food-handers in selected fast-foods centers operating in Abia State. Four research objectives, four research questions and six hypotheses were raised to guide the study. The study adopted combination of observational and cross-sectional design. Thirty (30) fast-foods centers within the study area were sampled randomly from one hundred and twelve (112) registered fast- food Centre in the study area from which 270 food-handers were sampled. The checklist and questionnaire were used for data collection which was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS version 20. Descriptive statistics were used to answer the research question and achieve the objectives while independent sample t-test and One-way ANOVA were used to test hypotheses. The results revealed that that; first, availability of facilities and material required for effective hand washing is high (74.33%), the results revealed that average level of compliance to hand-washing guideline by the food handlers complied is high (66.67%.) and also that the perception of the food-handlers to the importance of hand-washing is good (3.19 >2.5), finally the results of the hypotheses tested revealed that gender is a significant predictor of level of compliance and their perception to importance of hand washing. The results revealed that educational level and age are significant predictor of their perceptions toward as the important of hand washing but not significant predictors of their compliance level (p=0.05). it was concluded, among others, that compliance level as well as perception of the food-handlers to importance of hand washing is good. It therefore recommended, among others, that Management of the fast-food centers should periodically organize hand hygiene awareness training and programs to help their food-handlers understand the hand washing guidelines and importance of good

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