الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The school age child lives in a rapidly expanding world. The age of primary school children ranges from 6-12 years, this period is characterized by steady physical growth, neuro-muscular refinement, and rapid expansion of cognitive and social skill. The school years cover a critical period in development of personal social behavior. During this period, interests, attitudes, and capabilities develop. The child’s environment expands dramatically with increased opportunities for socialization and other new learning opportunities.
School nurses play a vital role in making sure children are healthy and ready to learn. They improve attendance through health promotion; disease prevention and disease management through providing modeling, instructions, and reinforcement for positive habits about hygiene.
The current study aimed to investigate the practices of personal hygiene among primary school students in Alexandria. This work specifically aimed to assess the students’ knowledge and practices regarding personal hygiene, to explore school environment items related to personal hygiene, to determine the different factors which may affect their personal hygiene, and to explore the nurses’ activities needed for maintaining good personal hygiene.
The study was conducted in primary schools in Alexandria Governorate, 790 students (boys and girls) were selected from three educational districts chosen randomly from the seven educational districts in Alexandria Governorate. from each selected educational districts, two Governmental public and two private primary schools chosen randomly. from each selected school three classes from the sixth grade chosen randomly. So, a total of 36 primary school classes will be included in the study sample. All nurses working in the selected schools will constitute the nurses study sample.
Three techniques were applied in collecting the information required: A structured interview sheet will be developed for students, a structured interview sheet for school nurse, Observation checklist for a subsample of schools on the current status of water supply and sanitation facilities.
In the light of data analysis the results could be summarized as follows
1.The study sample included 790 students from both sexes (boys and girls) participated in the study; nearly three quarters (77.2%) aged 10-12 years. More than three quarters (77.6%) belonged to middle socioeconomic level, while 10.9% belonged to upper middle socioeconomic level. The results revealed that knowledge and practices of students regarding personal hygiene are adequate in some aspects and inadequate in another.
2.As regards collective knowledge score, two thirds 61.9% of the sample had satisfactory knowledge, 34.6% had average while 3.5% of them had poor knowledge regarding personal hygiene.
3.The knowledge of sampled student regarding the definition of personal hygiene showed that 52.4% of them gave insufficient answer. The majority of sampled student had satisfactory knowledge about the manner of face washing, hand washing technique. While the minority of the students had required knowledge about cleaning important of oral hygiene and teeth brushing, time of hand washes and results of neglecting hair washing.
4.As regards practice score of sampled students concerning personal hygiene, the majority (94.2%) of them had good score
5.The great majority (96.5%) of the studied sample gave correct practice about manner of hand washing (96.5% from governmental schools and 96.4% from private schools).
6-Regarding frequency of teeth brushing, more than half (58.7%) of the studied sample stated they wash their teeth in the morning (53.6% from governmental schools and 64.2% from private schools).
7-The majority (83.3%) of nurses stated they provide a safe and healthy school environment, referring students if needed. While more than two thirds (66.7%) of nurses didn’t encourage healthy habits (83.3% from governmental schools and 50% from private schools).
8-The study revealed that there are positive relationship between knowledge of students and their practices.
Based on the result of present study and in view of the previous conclusion, the following recommendations are suggested:
1.Personal hygiene programs should be offered in regular basis to all students.
2.The student’s hygienic status should be inspected at schools by school nurse and teachers, so as to direct them to the proper hygienic methods.
3.A school-based screening hygiene condition is vital in order to decrease the rates of transmission diseases.
4.Pre-service of in service training for school nurses concerning their role in keeping healthful school environment and educating school children concerning personal hygiene.
5.Role of school nurse as a liaison between school, parents and community