1.Hand Hygiene Compliance Barriers and Facilitators in Iranian Nurses: A Qualitative Study
Mohammad Hossein Kaveh ; Mohadeseh Motamed-Jahromi ; Leila Ghahremani ; Mahin Nazari ; Seyed Aliakbar Faghihi
Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences 2022;18(No.1):44-51
Introduction: Hand hygiene plays a huge role in removing hospital infections. The aim of this study was to explore
the nurses’ viewpoints about the factors affecting hand hygiene compliance. Methods: In this qualitative content
analysis study, the data were collected through purposive sampling and semi-structured interviews with 15 nurses.
Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analyses were conducted using Lundman and
Graneheim’s method. Results: Six themes were identified, including the facilitator and barriers to compliance with
hand hygiene on personal, interpersonal, and organizational levels. One theme was personal facilitator, with categories of facilitating the cognition and adherence to values. Personal barriers included cognitive obstacles, attitudinal
barriers, and physical barriers. The interpersonal facilitators included supportive social climate and appropriate
culture building. The interpersonal barriers involved inappropriate culture building and being under pressure. The
organizational facilitators were strong leadership style, good managerial support, and competent staff evaluation; the
last theme was organizational barriers with categories of poor leadership style, ineffective staff development, inconsistency in organizational policy, and incompetent staff evaluation. Conclusion: This study adopted an integrated
approach to examining the factors affecting the nurses’ hand hygiene compliance. It is recommended that future
interventions should consider the differences at individual, interpersonal, and organizational levels and developed
a tailoring approach.