Gaube, S;
Tsivrikos, D;
Dollinger, D;
Lermer, E;
(2018)
How a smiley protects health: A pilot intervention to improve hand hygiene in hospitals by activating injunctive norms through emoticons.
PLOS ONE
, 13
(5)
, Article e0197465. 10.1371/journal.pone.0197465.
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Abstract
Hand hygiene practice in hospitals is unfortunately still widely insufficient, even though it is known that transmitting pathogens via hands is the leading cause of healthcare-associated infections. Previous research has shown that improving knowledge, providing feedback on past behaviour and targeting social norms are promising approaches to improve hand hygiene practices. The present field experiment was designed to direct people on when to perform hand hygiene and prevent forgetfulness. This intervention is the first to examine the effect of inducing injunctive social norms via an emoticon-based feedback system on hand hygiene behaviour. Electronic monitoring and feedback devices were installed in hospital patient rooms on top of hand-rub dispensers, next to the doorway, for a period of 17 weeks. In the emoticon condition, screens at the devices activated whenever a person entered or exited the room. Before using the alcohol-based hand-rub dispenser, a frowny face was displayed, indicating that hand hygiene should be performed. If the dispenser was subsequently used, this picture changed to a smiley face to positively reinforce the correct behaviour. Hand hygiene behaviour in the emoticon rooms significantly outperformed the behaviour in three other tested conditions. The strong effect in this field experiment indicates that activating injunctive norms may be a promising approach to improve hand hygiene behaviour. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | How a smiley protects health: A pilot intervention to improve hand hygiene in hospitals by activating injunctive norms through emoticons |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0197465 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197465 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology, Multidisciplinary Sciences, Science & Technology - Other Topics, RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED-TRIAL, CARE WORKERS, PLANNED BEHAVIOR, MONITORING TECHNOLOGY, FIELD EXPERIMENT, TRANSMISSION, PERCEPTIONS, GUIDELINES, ADHERENCE, EFFICACY |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10068474 |
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