A scale for measuring hygiene behavior: development, reliability and validity.
BACKGROUND
There is currently no general self-report measure for assessing hygiene behavior. This article details the development and testing of such a measure.


METHODS
In studies 1 to 4, a total of 855 participants were used for scale and subscale development and for reliability and validity testing. The latter involved establishing the relationships between self-reported hygiene behavior and existing measures, hand hygiene behavior, illness rates, and a physiological marker of immune function. In study 5, a total of 507 participants were used to assess the psychometric properties of the final revised version of the scale.


RESULTS
The final 23-item scale comprised 5 subscales: general, household, food-related, handwashing technique, and personal hygiene. Studies 1 to 4 confirmed the scale's reliability and validity, and study 5 confirmed the scale's 5-factor structure.


CONCLUSIONS
The scale is potentially suitable for multiple uses, in various settings, and for experimental and correlational approaches.
Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. richard.stevenson@psy.mq.edu.au
Richard J
RJ
Stevenson
Trevor I
TI
Case
Deborah
D
Hodgson
Renata
R
Porzig-Drummond
Javad
J
Barouei
Megan J
MJ
Oaten
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005511:Food Handling / Q000592:standards*; D006235:Hand Disinfection / Q000592:standards*; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D006920:Hygiene; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012650:Self Disclosure; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D055815:Young Adult