Background: Despite the importance of hand hygiene in preventing transmission of healthcare-associated infections, compliance rates are suboptimal. Hand hygiene is a complex behaviour and psychological frameworks are promising tools to influence healthcare worker (HCW) behaviour.
Aim: (i) To review the effectiveness of interventions based on psychological theories of behaviour change to improve HCW hand hygiene compliance; (ii) to determine which frameworks have been used to predict HCW hand hygiene compliance.
Methods: Multiple databases and reference lists of included studies were searched for studies that applied psychological theories to improve and/or predict HCW hand hygiene. All steps in selection, data extraction, and quality assessment were performed independently by two reviewers.
Findings: The search yielded 918 citations; seven met eligibility criteria. Four studies evaluated hand hygiene interventions based on psychological frameworks. Interventions were informed by goal setting, control theory, operant learning, positive reinforcement, change theory, the theory of planned behaviour, and the transtheoretical model. Three predictive studies employed the theory of planned behaviour, the transtheoretical model, and the theoretical domains framework. Interventions to improve hand hygiene adherence demonstrated efficacy but studies were at moderate to high risk of bias. For many studies, it was unclear how theories of behaviour change were used to inform the interventions. Predictive studies had mixed results.
Conclusion: Behaviour change theory is a promising tool for improving hand hygiene; however, these theories have not been extensively examined. Our review reveals a significant gap in the literature and indicates possible avenues for novel research.
Keywords: Behaviour; Hand hygiene; Psychology.
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