An interventional study of Hand Hygiene Education Program in Respiratory Disease and Gastrointestinal Diseases and Symptom, sponsored by Hawler Medical University. Completed at 1 site in Iraq. Open to participants aged 9 Years to 13 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-03-12.
Sponsored by Hawler Medical University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention
The goal of this clinical trial is to assess whether providing hand and respiratory hygiene interventions in primary school children reduces the incidence rate of absence episodes due to illness in children during an academic year.
The main questions it aims to answer are:
This study aims to assess whether providing hand and respiratory hygiene interventions in primary school children reduces the incidence rate of absence episodes due to illness in children during an academic year.
Parallel-group cluster randomized trials take place in primary schools, where schools are allocated using restricted randomization to the intervention or control group. All children (aged 9-13 years) in attendance at participating intervention schools will receive an in-class hand and respiratory hygiene education session and will be provided with soap, shampoo, and shampoo dispensers in school at the beginning of the starting trial (around November). The in-class hand and respiratory hygiene education sessions will be repeated on a monthly basis in the intervention schools.
Control schools will not receive these specific interventions but will continue to receive any hygiene aspects included in the study program. The primary outcome is the number and length of absence episodes due to illness among follow-up children and the reasons for absence, including any respiratory and gastrointestinal infections during the academic year (November to May the following year). The incidence of respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses will be recorded, even if they do not cause school absences.
Intervention Children in intervention schools will receive an approximately 30-minute in-class hand hygiene education session at the beginning of the study. They will be instructed in the use of hand hygiene and asked to use it after coughing/sneezing and on the way out of the classroom for morning break and lunch. The in-class hand and respiratory hygiene education sessions will be repeated on a monthly basis. In addition, educational posters about hand hygiene and when and how to wash hands will be installed in each school (classrooms and/or corridors) as a reminder for schoolchildren. Caregivers of children at intervention schools will be sent a letter home with the school newsletter explaining the study and asking them to let their child's teacher know Control Children in the control schools will not receive specific hygiene education, and hand soap will not be provided in the school.
Follow up The researcher will visit each school in both the intervention and control groups on a weekly basis to record any absenteeism of schoolchildren and follow up on the reasons with the school and the parents. The occurrence of any illnesses, even without absenteeism, will be recorded.
513 studies on the registry are indexed under Respiration Disorders; 98 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 802 is above the median of 64 across 290 interventional studies indexed under Respiration Disorders.
Browse Respiration Disorders studies →Hawler Medical University is the lead sponsor of 56 studies on the registry; 6 are open to participants now.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Students in this group receive a structured hand hygiene education program that includes instruction on proper handwashing techniques, demonstrations, and reinforcement of hygiene practices to improve health outcomes and reduce school absenteeism.
Behavioral: Hand Hygiene Education Program
Students in this group continue their regular school routine without receiving the structured hand hygiene education program during the study period.
Modified handwashing practice Children in intervention schools will receive an approximately 30 minutes of in-class hand hygiene education session at the beginning of the study. They will be instructed in the use of hand hygiene and asked to use it after coughing/sneezing and on the way out of the classroom for morning break and lunch. The in-class respiratory hygiene education sessions, Wearing masks and hand rub gel will be repeated every month. In addition, educational posters about hand hygiene, when and how to wash hands will be installed in each school (classrooms and/or corridors) as a reminder for schoolchildren.
Assess the impact of hand and respiratory hygiene on the incidence rate of respiratory illnesses and gastrointestinal illnesses.
Assess the impact of hand and respiratory hygiene intervention on the incidence rate of respiratory illnesses and assess the impact of hand and respiratory hygiene intervention on the incidence rate of gastrointestinal illnesses.
Time frame: 5 months (Measured at baseline and at the conclusion of the study).
School Absenteeism Due to Illness
The number of school days missed due to illness among students during the study period. Absenteeism will be recorded from school attendance records and compared between the intervention and control groups.
Time frame: 5 months
Plan to share: No
This study is completed, as verified in Mar 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Hawler Medical University