Hygiene and the Theory of Planned Behavior Essay

Hygiene and the Theory of Planned Behavior

Describe the theory and your rationale for selecting the theory

Among healthcare subjects, hand hygiene falls under the theory of planned behavior. The act of engaging in proper hand-washing practices is of foundational importance to providing a safe, healthy and sanitary context for healthcare. However, according to the study by O'Boyle et al. (2001), many healthcare professionals simply do not comply with expectations in this area. This denotes the need for improved behavioral compliance among healthcare professionals. This need underscores the cause for selected the theory applied here. According to O'Boyle et al., "most health care workers (HCWs) are aware of the rationale for hand hygiene procedures, yet failure to adhere to guidelines is common." (O'Boyle et al., p. 352)

Discuss how the theory works to support your proposed solution

This theory is particularly useful in moving toward the proposed solution of instituting new strategies for encouraging improved hand-hygiene. Specifically, the planned behavior theory suggests that finding ways to incorporate the habit of handwashing into existing responsibilities and routines can help to normalize the behavior. This is reinforced in the study by O'Boyle et al. Though the study cannot confirm its hypothesis regarding the impact of certain planned behavior factors, it does confirm the connection between demanding healthcare worker schedules and hand-hygiene compliance failure.This connection lends insight into how an improvement in planned behavior can lead to greater time-management efficiency.

The goal in tying this theory into the proposed solution is to create a strategic mode of time management that ultimately helps healthcare workers to routinize hand-washing habits.

3. Explain how you will incorporate the theory into your project.

The theory will be incorporated into this project through an explicitly constructed hand-hygiene behavior policy to be applied in the healthcare setting. Separate from the specific instructions mandating proper hygiene or specifying how hand hygiene may be executed to proper specification, this policy would concern when hand hygiene should be engaged. Here, hand-washing will be appended to the schedule of treatment events both before and after every patient is seen, every procedure is conducted, every specimen or medication is handled, etc.

By incorporating hand hygiene into the set of planned behaviors that accompany every medical interaction, the project would help to normalize the act of hand-washing. This planned behavior would then ultimately become habitualized reflex. Moreover, habitualizaton of this behavior may….....