Effectiveness of Child-to-Child Approach on Knowledge and Practices of Personal Hygiene in Children Studying at Selected Schools

The ancient Greek spent many hours in the bath using fragrance and make-up, in an effort to make them beautiful and be presentable to others. Personal hygiene may be described as the principle of maintaining cleanliness of the body. Children should be taught the importance of hygiene as early as possible. Hence, caregivers (or) elder children can teach children regarding personal hygiene like dental care, eye care, hand care and skin care. The child to child approach in newly introduced concept, which has great importance in the health aspect. Aim of the study was to evaluate effectiveness of child-to-child approach on knowledge and practices of personal hygiene in children. Methodology: A quasi experimental study was conducted on 90 school children selected by purposive non probability sampling technique in Government Schools of Gajjukhera, Rajpura, Distt. Patiala, Punjab. Data were collected by using structured knowledge questionnaire and structured observational checklist on procedure of tooth brushing, hand washing and personal hygiene. Findings revealed that there was significant increase in mean post-test knowledge and practices scores of experimental group I and II (Child to child approach and planned teaching programme) than control group regarding personal hygiene. The computed values of post test knowledge scores, practice of tooth brushing, hand washing technique and regarding personal hygiene (F 87 =117.055: pless than0.052) (F 87 =307.959:pless than0.58) (F 87 =340.797: pless than0.825), (F 87 =225.97: pless than0.052) respectively which shows it is significant. It revealed that child to child is effective in increasing knowledge and practices of personal hygiene of schoolchildren age 10-12 years.