Home Hygiene Practices and Risk Factors for The Development of Communicable Diseases among-The Residents of Dadu Majra Colony, Chandigarh

摘要

An exploratory on home hygiene practices and risk factors for the development of communicable diseases was undertaken among the residents of Dadu Majra Colony, Chandigarh. A total of 100 houses with 108 families and 582 family members (including 108 respondents for interview, 176 for personal hygiene assessment, 176 for observation of hand washing) were selected by systematic random sampling. Tool included the interview schedule to assess home hygiene practices and observation checklists for personal hygiene, hand washing and home hygiene observations alongwith scoring key to score the tool. Each family was given an individual Home Hygiene Percentage Score. Households of Lower Quartile group (HLQ) were found to have 4-5 times higher risk of developing Upper respiratory infections and 2-3 times higher risk of developing Gastrointestinal infections and fever episodes than the Households of Upper Quartile group (HUQ). Practices related to food hygiene, water hygiene, peri-domestic hygiene, general hygiene in rooms, bathrooms, toilets and control of flies were better among the HUQ as compared to HLQ (P<0.05). The study recommended for generating awareness on home hygiene by the nurses and health workers in the community and further studies to generalize the findings.