The effect of hygiene habits on the state ofillness in secondary school students

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this research is to determine the hygienic habits of the secondary school students and to study the effects of their hygienic habits on their illness. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The universe of this descriptive study was the students of the secondary school within the Provincial Directorate of National Education and located in three central districts of Kayseri. For sampling, multistage sampling method was employed. At the first stage, the schools in each district were listed, and one school was chosen from each district to determine the universe. A total of 2780 students from three schools comprised the universe of the study. At the second stage, the sampling method the universe of which was obvious was used and the sample to be used in the study consisted of 514 students. How many students from each school would be reached was determined predominantly depending on the number of the students at the selected schools. For data collection, use was made of personal information form, personal hygiene questionnaire, and the form related with the circumstances in which students sicken, and the success level at school. The committee approval of the Kayseri Provincial Directorate of National Education and the students' oral consent were obtained. Data were collected in two stages. In the first stage, the form for the personal hygiene state of the students in the fall semester of the 2015-2016 academic year was filled under the supervision of the researcher. At the second stage, during the semester break, the health reports the students had obtained in the fall term the 2015-2016 academic year, their excused absences, and their academic achievement grades were recorded. For statistical analyses, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson χ2 analysis, and Tukey test were used. FINDINGS: Of the students in the study, 44.7% (n: 230) were male, and 55.3% (n: 284) female, and 30.9% (n: 159) were 7th grade. The students' personal hygiene points were within 7-22 range with a mean of 16.6 It was detected that the students with higher scores of personal hygiene had also higher mean achievement scores (p<0.05). The relationship between the students' scores for personal hygiene and their getting sick leave reports, if any, was found to be statistically insignificant (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The students' personal hygiene scores were found to be above the average, not their becoming ill. Key words: hygiene medical expertise report, school health, school nursing