Hairdresser workers knowledge, attitude and behaviour towards blood borne infections and affecting factors

Hairdresser workers knowledge, attitude and behaviour towards blood borne infections and affecting factors. Introduction And Aim It was targeted aimed to evaluate hairdresser workers knowledge, attitude and behaviour towards blood borne infections, and affecting factors of these and to find how awareness and knowledge changes attitudes and behaviour. Materials and Methods The study was designed as a descriptive, crosssectional research. The 150 hairdressers who were registered to Aydın Chamber of Merchants and Crafstmen constituted the population of the study. It was't a chosen sample and it was planned to include the whole hairdressers in the city. 150 hairdresser salons's phone and address information were obtained through. The Chamber 9 hairdresser salons's phone and adress information which were wrong, incomplete or changed were not reached. 141 hairdressers salons were enrolled, 8 of them were not accepted to the study. Finally; 500 workers older than18 years in 133 hairdressesr salons were included in the study. After getting ethical permission, between 01.09.2014 and 31.11.2014 informed consents were signed and the questionnaire was replied by participants with face to face interview method. The collected data were organized and statistically analysed using SPSS, version 17. Results In this study 57,8 % of participants were women and 42,2 % were men. When occupation were categorized, 147 of them were helper, 110 of them were asisstant master, 159 of them were master, 84 of them were manicurist. 86,8 % of hairdresser workers have told getting education about occupational risks. They have emphasized getting information mostly through school (apprenticeship training) 52 %, thereafter from professional chamber (46,2 %) as the source of the information. The percentage of parcipitants who saw occupation risky for blood borne infections were 81,8 %. The parcipitants who did not see any danger in the place of working were 24.6 %. The parcipitans who knew infections like HBV, HCV, HIV which were transmitted via blood were 87,6%. The parcipitants who said infections can be transmitted with scissor, fork, razor were found as 77,2 %. The participants who were vaccinated by HBV vaccine were only 43,4 %. The participants who were using gloves during the professional activities were 32 %. There were only 32 persons using gloves for every procedure. Usage of alcohol 55,2 % was found highest in the instruments cleaning (decontamination procedure). The parcipitants who washed hands before and after procedure were 76,4 %. The parcipitants who used autocloves as a sterilization method were found as 54,8 %. The participants mean information score (out of 12) was detected as 8,81+1,81. Information score which effected favourably by sex, age, education, being manicurist, marital status getting vocational retraining time in occupation was determined. The parcipitants mean behavour score was detected as 6,63+ 1,4. Behavour score which effected favourably by sex, age, education, being manicurist, time in occupation was also determined. Conclusions In this study it was seen that the participants's level of knowledge and attitude towards blood-borne infections was inadequate and this situation is a risk for the community health. It is important raising awareness of the workers via proper educational courses. Firstly especially young and unexperienced participants mus tbe educated. Although HBV vaccine in our counntry is free, the percentage of hairdresser workers who were vaccinated were not enough. Using active vaccine programs for both hairdresser workers and adults will reduce infection transmission significantly. Barbers and hairdressers mustbe controlled constructively for public health by responsible institutions and checkup of the workers most be done regularly. Key words: Hairdresser, blood borne infections, knowledge and behaviour.