NCT07506915

The Effect of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

The Effect of Hand Hygiene Education With Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Hospital Infection Awareness: a Randomized Controlled Trial

• Status: Enrolling By Invitation
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 140 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Kirsehir Ahi Evran Universitesi · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of hand hygiene training applied using cognitive behavioural therapy techniques on healthcare workers' attitudes and beliefs regarding nosocomial infections. Another aim is to increase the effectiveness of hand hygiene training and to instil correct hand hygiene behaviour by utilising cognitive behavioural therapy to raise awareness of nosocomial infections among healthcare workers. This is a single-centre, double-blind, randomised, controlled trial with a single parallel group. The hypothesis is that hand hygiene training using cognitive behavioural therapy techniques will influence healthcare workers' attitudes and beliefs regarding nosocomial infections.

Detailed description

Although hand hygiene is a significant factor contributing to nosocomial infections, the problem of failure to implement effective hand hygiene has not yet been fully resolved. Hospital infections are generally defined as infections that develop in a patient who has been admitted to hospital for reasons other than infection. If the patient is not in the incubation period when admitted to hospital or does not have the signs and symptoms of that infection, infections that occur in hospital are hospital-acquired infections. Supporting hand hygiene training with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy represents a relatively new approach in the literature. Like many health behaviour interventions developed based on Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behaviour, this study also aimed to achieve lasting behavioural change by targeting cognitive attitudes and norms. Similar interventions have been found to be effective particularly in areas such as diabetes management, smoking cessation, and increasing physical activity. Von Lengerke et al. observed hand hygiene behaviour in their randomised controlled trials. Boscart et al. also utilised psychological theories to promote hand hygiene behaviour. However, the number of studies employing a cognitive behavioural therapy-based approach specifically for hand hygiene is limited. In this respect, this study makes an important contribution to the literature. This study goes beyond classical education models and focuses on transforming healthcare workers' attitudes towards nosocomial infections through an education approach based on a cognitive behavioural foundation. Given the scarcity of hand hygiene training supported by Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in the current literature, this study presents a novel theoretical approach and proposes a robust strategy for preventing hospital infections in practice.

Conditions

• Intervention (Training) Condition

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Hand hygiene training using cognitive behavioural therapy techniques	The intervention group will receive hand hygiene training using cognitive behavioural therapy techniques. Hand hygiene training using cognitive behavioural therapy techniques will be delivered by a specialist psychologist certified in cognitive behavioural therapy from among the researchers. The training consists of three 1-hour sessions. The information on hand hygiene included in the training has been obtained from data provided by the Turkish Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation. The aim of this training is to convince healthcare workers of the importance of hand hygiene in the prevention of hospital-acquired infections and to boost their confidence in their ability to adhere to hand hygiene guidelines. A strong commitment to hand hygiene will be possible through the development of self-regulatory behaviour. The objective is to foster self-regulatory behaviour through hand hygiene training integrated with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy techniques.

Timeline

• Start date: 2026-06-29
• Primary completion: 2026-06-29
• Completion: 2026-09-29
• First posted: 2026-04-02
• Last updated: 2026-04-02

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Turkey (Türkiye)