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More guys skip the soap after the loo, English study finds
Mother told you to scrub your hands with soap and water after going to the bathroom. Guess the girls listened better than the boys.
A study of nearly 200,000 male and female restroom users of all ages at a highway service station in England found that, unprompted, just 32 percent of men washed their hands with soap, compared with 65 percent of women.
The data was collected from infrared sensors that measured people entering and leaving the restrooms, while wireless sensors recorded soap use.
Peer pressure might be an effective way to boost hand-washing, researchers found. The researchers put different text messages in the bathrooms urging users to scrub up.
Men were much likelier than women to wash their hands with soap after seeing a "disgust" message, such as "Don't take the loo with you -- wash with soap," upping hand-washing by 9.8 percent. Women responded more to "knowledge of risk" signs, such as "Water doesn't kill germs, soap does," increasing soap rates by 9.4 percent.
For both groups, a message carrying a form of peer pressure was one of the most effective: "Is the person next to you washing with soap?"
The study was published in the October 2009 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. AP
More guys skip the soap after the loo, English study finds
Mother told you to scrub your hands with soap and water after going to the bathroom. Guess the girls listened better than the boys.
A study of nearly 200,000 male and female restroom users of all ages at a highway service station in England found that, unprompted, just 32 percent of men washed their hands with soap, compared with 65 percent of women.
The data was collected from infrared sensors that measured people entering and leaving the restrooms, while wireless sensors recorded soap use.
Peer pressure might be an effective way to boost hand-washing, researchers found. The researchers put different text messages in the bathrooms urging users to scrub up.
Men were much likelier than women to wash their hands with soap after seeing a "disgust" message, such as "Don't take the loo with you -- wash with soap," upping hand-washing by 9.8 percent. Women responded more to "knowledge of risk" signs, such as "Water doesn't kill germs, soap does," increasing soap rates by 9.4 percent.
For both groups, a message carrying a form of peer pressure was one of the most effective: "Is the person next to you washing with soap?"
The study was published in the October 2009 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. AP
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