Hand Hygiene, Mask-Wearing Behaviors and Its Associated Factors during the COVID-19 Epidemic: A Cross-Sectional Study among Primary School Students in Wuhan, China

TLDR

During the COVID‑19 pandemic, hand‑washing and mask‑wearing were repeatedly emphasized, yet many individuals did not fully adopt these protective behaviors. The study used descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression (p < 0.05) to assess hand‑hygiene and mask‑wearing practices among Wuhan primary school students and identify associated risk factors. Only 42.1 % of students practiced good hand‑washing and 51.6 % practiced good mask‑wearing, with gender, grade, parental education, and other factors significantly influencing both behaviors, suggesting targeted parental guidance and broader public campaigns.

Abstract

Although the emphasis on behaviors of hand-washing and mask-wearing was repeated during the pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), not everyone paid enough attention to this. A descriptive statistic was used to make sense of the status of hand hygiene and mask-wearing among primary school students in Wuhan, China. A binary logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify the risk factors affecting the behaviors of hand-washing and mask-wearing. p &lt; 0.05 (two-sides) was considered as significant at statistics. 42.05% of the primary school students showed a good behavior of hand-washing, while 51.60% had a good behavior of mask-wearing. Gender, grade, out-going history, father’s occupation, mother’s educational background, and the time filling out the survey were significantly associated with hand hygiene, whereas grade, mother’s educational background, and residence were associated with mask-wearing. The behaviors of hand-washing and mask-wearing among primary school students were influenced by gender, grade, and other factors, therefore, parents should make efforts of behavior guidance whereas governments should enlarge medium publicity.