مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - Knowledge on infection control and practices of manucrists and pedicurists in establishments registered to the chamber of professionals in Bornova

Abstract :

Aim: Manicuring/pedicuring are among the routes of transmission of HBV, HCV, HIV viruses to adults. Our aim was to determine the infection control knowledge, attitudes and practices of manicurists/pedicurists in Bornova.Materials and Methods: Among 211 establishments registered to the chamber of commerce, 83.7% were contacted. One hundred thirty-one manicurists/pedicurists working in 109 establishments were interviewed face-to-face in November-December 2009. The questionnaire included 70 questions covering socio-demographics, experience, working conditions, knowledge and practice on infection control. A knowledge score was calculated from the 25 true/false type questions on knowledge, and an attitude score from 14 questions. Spearman’s correlation, ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis, Student t and Mann-Whitney U tests were used for analyses. Results: The mean age of participants was 27.4±8.2. Of those, 41.6% had primary schooling and 25.7% vocational training and they had been working as manicurists/pedicurists for 9.4±7.9 years. Their mean knowledge and attitude scores were 68 and 54 over 100. Decontamination was the issue about which they knew the least. Age, professional experience, marital status, education and social security affected knowledge while attitude depended only on age and experience. Among the participants, 92.9% used appropriate sterilization methods. The use of hypochloride was over 70%. Hepatitis B vaccination rates (60%), hand washing (52.3%) and the use of gloves (20.2-33.1%) should be improved. Periodical examination rates were quite low ( 10%) for the previous year.Conclusion: Manicurists-pedicurists were very familiar with some issues and had good practices for sterilization and using hypochloride. The Hepatitis B vaccination rate was moderately high. Decontamination knowledge, hand washing attitudes and use of personal protection should be improved.