pathogens Article Hand Hygiene Behaviors in a Representative Sample of Polish Adolescents in Regions Stratified by COVID-19 Morbidity and by Confounding Variables (PLACE-19 Study): Is There Any Association? Dominika Skolmowska 1, Dominika Gł ˛abska 1,* and Dominika Guzek 2 1 Department of Dietetics, Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW-WULS), 159C Nowoursynowska Street, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland;
[email protected] 2 Department of Food Market and Consumer Research, Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW-WULS), 159C Nowoursynowska Street, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +48-22-593-71-34 Received: 1 October 2020; Accepted: 28 November 2020; Published: 1 December 2020 Abstract: The hand hygiene may possibly influence the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the multifactorial influence on hand hygiene knowledge and behaviors is proven. The aim of the study was to analyze hand hygiene behaviors in a national representative sample of Polish adolescents in regions stratified by COVID-19 morbidity, while taking socioeconomic status of the region, as well rural or urban environment, into account as possible interfering factors. The study was conducted Polish Adolescents’ COVID-19 Experience (PLACE-19) Study population (n = 2323) that was recruited based on a random sampling of schools, while the pair-matching procedure was applied within schools and age, in order to obtain adequate number of boys and girls, representative for the general Polish population (n = 1222). The participants were asked about their handwashing habits while using Handwashing Habits Questionnaire (HHQ) and about applied procedure of washing hands.