Titre du document / Document title

Can the emotion of disgust be harnessed to promote hand hygiene? Experimental and field-based tests

Auteur(s) / Author(s)

PORZIG-DRUMMOND Renata ⁽¹⁾ ; STEVENSON Richard ⁽¹⁾ ; CASE Trevor ⁽¹⁾ ; OATEN Megan ⁽¹⁾ ;

Affiliation(s) du ou des auteurs / Author(s) Affiliation(s)

⁽¹⁾ Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, North Ryde, Sydney, NSW2109, AUSTRALIE

Résumé / Abstract

Two studies carried out in Sydney, Australia explored whether inducing disgust may be a useful addition to hand-hygiene interventions. Experiment 1 employed a novel laboratory measure of hand hygiene, and tested whether a brief (3-min) video-based intervention using disgust/education, improved hand hygiene relative to education alone and a control condition. On test, a week later, the disgust intervention significantly exceeded the education and control condition combined, although the effect size was modest. Experiment 2 examined the generality of this effect in a field study. During a baseline period, soap and paper towel use in a series of washrooms were covertly monitored. This was followed by an intervention period, in which two washrooms received disgust/education-based posters and a further two, educational posters, exhorting participants to wash their hands. A follow-up period, after the posters were removed, was also monitored. The disgust-based intervention was significantly better at promoting hand hygiene. These findings suggest that even brief disgust-based interventions may be successful and that these can be tested and developed under laboratory conditions.

Revue / Journal Title

Social science & medicine   ISSN 0277-9536   CODEN SSMDEP 

Source / Source

2009, vol. 68, n^o6, pp. 1006-1012 [7 page(s) (article)] (1/2 p.)

Langue / Language

Anglais

Editeur / Publisher

Elsevier, Oxford, ROYAUME-UNI  (1982) (Revue)

Mots-clés anglais / English Keywords

Affect affectivity ; Oceania ; Human ; Social medicine ; Public health ; Australia ; Experimental study ; Hygiene ; Hand ; Washing ; Disgust ; Emotion emotionality ;

Mots-clés français / French Keywords

Affect affectivité ; Océanie ; Homme ; Médecine sociale ; Santé publique ; Australie ; Etude expérimentale ; Hygiène ; Main ; Lavage ; Dégoût ; Emotion émotivité ;

Mots-clés espagnols / Spanish Keywords

Afecto afectividad ; Oceania ; Hombre ; Medicina social ; Salud pública ; Australia ; Estudio experimental ; Higiene ; Mano ; Lavado ; Aversión ; Emoción emotividad ;

Mots-clés d'auteur / Author Keywords

Hand washing ; Disgust ; Australia ; Emotions ;

Localisation / Location

INIST-CNRS, Cote INIST : 13689, 35400018598319.0040