In order to improve the sanitary management at younger children food service centers, the researcher conducted a questionnaire survey on cooks’ awareness of hand-washing, and the effects of education and P. R. on their hand-washing. The purpose of this study is to provide some basic data useful to make a plan for the education and P. R. for cooks’ hand-washing.
This study conducted a survey on 62 cooks who were working for the younger children food service centers and surveyed them with a self-administered questionnaire. The data collected thus were processed using the statistical program IBM SPSS 25 for frequency analysis, descriptive statistics and chi square test.
The results of this study can be summarized as follows; First of all, it was found that 23 cooks (37.1%) were in their 40’s, while 31 ones (50%) had graduated from high schools or lower educational institutions. 24 cooks (38.7%) had worked for the food service centers for 1~3 years. Lately, they have washed their hands 21.18 times a day. The frequency of their washing hands with soap was 16.27 times a day. As a result of assessing their hand-washing habits on a 4-point scale, it was found that the part washed most frequently was palm (3.97), followed by back of hand (3.90), fingers (3.71), parts between fingers (3.68), lace (3.63), parts under the nails (3.18) and wrists (3.15). 58 cooks (93.5%) had ever been educated on hand-washing, while only 4 cooks (6.5%) had not been educated. The average times of the education on hand-washing were 2.62 times. 24 cooks (41.4%) thought that the most effective organizer of education on hand-washing had been children’s food service center. For the question “Have you ever viewed an advertisement or P. R. material for the last 1 year?”, 57 cooks (91.9%) said “Yes”, while 5 of them (8.1%) answered “No”. The most effective method of advertisement and P. R. about hand-washing was measured with multiple answers. 42 cooks (67.7%) answered that TV had been most effective.
The above results of this study suggest that this study should be followed up by future studies about hand-washing education and P. R. Besides, it is deemed essential to develop a systematic education program and operate it with some effective policy supports.