Abstract:

Background: Personal hygiene deficiency diseases have been found to be a serious public health problem and people often affected are school children. These have been attributed to inadequate knowledge of personal hygiene and its practices.

Methods: This study is a cross- sectional study to investigate personal hygiene knowledge and practices of senior secondary school, Ile –Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. A pre-tested 25- item, purpose designed, self- administered questionnaires were used to collect information on knowledge and practices of the respondents on personal hygiene. Data were collated and analyzed based on descriptive study design.

Results: The result showed that the senior secondary school students who participated in the study were almost evenly distributed by gender (50.7% males and 49.3% females). Most of the respondents (50%) were in the 12-14 year age bracket. The result also showed that majority of the respondents (98.2%) had good knowledge of personal hygiene, could accurately identify the components and some of the harmful consequences of not engaging in sufficient personal hygiene practices. The result also showed that majority of the respondents had good hygienic practices including taking bath (99.6%), brushing teeth (98.2%) and washing hands (65.9%).

Conclusion: Senior secondary school students of Ambassadors College, Ile- Ife have good personal hygiene knowledge and good personal hygiene practices.

Keywords: Personal hygiene, knowledge, practices

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