Shock and shame: How to increase handwashing compliance
A British study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine concluded that people are more likely to wash their hands properly after using the toilet if they are shamed into it or think they are being watched.
(1).jpg)
As part of a flood of handwashing information for today’s World Handwashing Day, the study, published in the American Journal of Public Health found that with no reminders, 32 percent of men and 64 percent of women used soap.
The observational study reported on the behavior of people using toilets at motorway service stations in Britain over 32 days.
When prompted by an electronic message flashing up on a board asking: "Is the person next to you washing with soap?," around 12 percent more men and 11 percent more women used soap.
Other messages flashed on the electronic boards included:
• Water doesn't kill germs, soap does; and,
• Don't be a dirty soap dodger.
The message that produced the strongest positive response was: "Is the person next to you washing with soap?"
The researchers also noted "intriguing differences" in the behavior of men and women: While women responded to simple reminders, men tended to react best to messages that invoked disgust, such as:
• Don't take the loo with you -- wash with soap, and
• Soap it off or eat it later.
I like the last one.
We’ve undertaken both shock and shame attempts at handwashing messages (below). Results pending.
(1).jpg)
(1)(1).jpg)
Show me, don't tell me
The survey of 1,000 American adults, conducted in February and March of 2008, found that,
.jpg)
"while more than three-quarters of Americans (82%) say they are confident in their ability to safely prepare food, many do not take steps to reduce the spread of bacteria in their kitchen. For instance, less than half (48%) report using separate cutting boards for raw meat or poultry and produce, and just 29% say they use a meat thermometer. … Most (92%) report washing their hands with soap and water when preparing food, and nearly as many (79%) say they store leftovers within two hours of serving. But just 15% report checking the wattage on their microwaves, and even fewer (7%) say they use a meat thermometer when using their microwave."Danielle Schor, Senior Vice President of Food Safety for the IFIC Foundation and registered dietitian, said,
“Consumers are a lot more confident about their ability to safely prepare food than they ought to be, based on what we learned. We still have a long way to go to educate the public about the basics such as avoiding cross contamination and cooking to proper temperature."
We've been doing a bunch of observational research over the past year and results will start trickling out in the next few months. Until then, as Brae Surgeoner wrote in the June 2007 issue of Food Protection Trends
"The study of consumer food-handling practices has relied almost exclusively on data obtained in self-report surveys. … The problem is that people often lie.
"In 1999, a team of Australian researchers, in their article, “A Video Study of Australian Domestic Food-Handling Practices,” impressed upon readers of the Journal of Food Protection the discrepancy that exists between what consumers say they do, and what they actually do. Comparing responses to a food-safety questionnaire administered prior to video surveillance of participants in their home kitchens, the researchers found significant deviations between stated and actual behavior. For example, there was a highly significant difference between self-reported and observed hand-washing practices. … Without observing actual behavior, food safety educators may be developing interventions that are successful in changing what individuals report they do, but may do little in changing what they actually do."
Oh, and anyone who says that avoiding cross-contamination is simple should be videotaped preparing a meal -- preferably with a few kids running around or some other distractions similar to actual scenarios -- and the video analyzed by trained coders looking for food safety, including cross-contamination, mistakes. My videos are at http://www.youtube.com/SafeFoodCafe, and I make mistakes -- or at least what may be defined as a mistake. That's because food safety -- including avoiding cross-contamination -- is not simple.
Superbug found in Canadian pork products
[The discovery] raises questions about how the contamination occurred, how frequently it happens and whether it has implications for human health.
Just under 10 per cent of sampled pork chops and ground pork recently purchased in four provinces tested positive for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA, lead researcher Dr. Scott Weese reported Wednesday in a presentation to the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases in Atlanta.
To date Weese's team has tested 212 meat samples bought in four different provinces. Most were pork chops but the group also tested a few pork shoulder roasts and some ground pork.
None of the pork roasts carried the bacteria but an equal percentage of pork chops and ground pork did. The rates of positive MRSA tests ranged from zero per cent in one province to 33 per cent in another. Weese didn't want to name the provinces.
What is most interesting to me are Weese's comments about what food handlers actually do:"If they do what they're supposed to do in terms of meat handling, then it should be perfectly safe. But do people do that is the question?"
What food handlers do (whether in the restaurant, packing house, slaughter house or home) is an area of uncertainty, and there isn't a whole lot of data around it. We've been conducting some research of food handler practices using observation, (T6-12, An Exploratory Study of Food-handling Practices at Church Dinners in Canada was presented at IAFP in 2007) and will be presenting some of our newest findings this summer at IAFP in Columbus, OH.
Handwashing: This is why observational research is important
.jpg)
Ninety-one percent of American adults say they always wash their hands after using public restrooms. But just 83 percent actually did so, according to a separate observational study.These results were among those released by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and The Soap and Detergent Association (SDA), during a press conference highlighting National Clean Hands Week. Both groups have used surveys over the years to help highlight a vital public health message from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
The single most important thing we can do to keep from getting sick and spreading illness to others is to clean our hands.
An August 2005 study conducted for ASM and SDA by Harris Interactive® observed 6,336 individuals wash their hands – or not – at six public attractions in four major cities: Atlanta (Turner Field), Chicago (Museum of Science and Industry, Shedd Aquarium), New York City (Grand Central Station, Penn Station), and San Francisco (Ferry Terminal Farmers Market).
Ninety percent of the women observed washed their hands, compared to 75 percent of men. By contrast, in an August 2005 telephone survey of 1,013 American adults also conducted by Harris Interactive®, 97 percent of women and 96 percent of men say they always or usually wash their hands after using a public restroom.
USA Today reported the dirty details as:* Atlanta's Turner Field baseball stadium again was the worst. Only 57% of guys there washed up, compared to 95% of women.
* New York was Second City to Chicago in cleanliness. In restrooms at the Windy City's Shedd Aquarium and Museum of Science and Industry, 81% of men and women combined washed their hands, compared to 79% at the Big Apple's Penn and Grand Central train stations.
• At San Francisco's Ferry Terminal Farmers Market, 62.5% of men lathered up. Women did better, with 84%.
Don't eat -- or serve -- poop.
