Public hygiene and the awareness of beauty parlor: A study of consumer perspective
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Pramila Thapa 1 , Ioannis Pantelis Adamopoulos 2 * , Prakash Sharma 3 , Revaz Lordkipanidze 4
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1 Life Skills Education Institutes, Yeti Health Science Academy, Kathmandu, NEPAL2 Hellenic Republic, Region of Attica, Department of Environmental Hygiene and Sanitarian Public Health Inspections, South Sector of Athens, Athens, GREECE3 Faculty of Education, Tribhuvan University, Butwal Multiple Campus, Butwal, NEPAL4 Georgian Academy of Economic Sciences, Tbilisi, GEORGIA* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Background: The beauty-care industry flourishes globally, including in Kathmandu, Nepal. Despite limited research on personal hygiene, beauty parlors lack comprehensive studies. This study aims to assess beauty parlor public hygiene (BPH) awareness among university students.
Methods: The researchers employed a quantitative cross-sectional approach and purposive sampling to gather data from consumers. Consumers were surveyed using self-designed tools, and the researchers assessed the tools’ reliability, validity, and pilot-tested them. The reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) of the tools was measured at 0.793. Prior to conducting the final study, the researchers obtained ethical approval. In this study, the researchers utilized descriptive analysis, t-tests, and Chi-square tests to analyze the data.
Results: In this study, descriptive analysis showed that 53.0% of consumers scored 50.0% or lower in awareness of BPH. A one-sample t-test revealed a significant result (p=0.049) for BPH, with a mean difference of 0.753 (95% confidence interval: 0.0032 to 1.5033). Regarding sociodemographic variables, the mean age of consumers was 26.89 years. 52.1% of consumers visited beauty parlors more than once a month, and 43.8% spent between 501 and 1,000 rupees per month. The main services consumers sought were hair styling/cutting and facial/skin care in this study.
Conclusions: Researchers suggested that below 50.0% of consumers scored low levels of awareness regarding BPH. Therefore, targeted interventions, more in-depth research studies, interdisciplinary collaboration, and standardized protocols for regulating and monitoring beauty parlor services are recommended. Regular laboratory examinations to identify different types of microbes such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses are also suggested to prevent various types of communicable and pandemic diseases.

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EUR J ENV PUBLIC HLT, Volume 8, Issue 2, 2024, Article No: em0157

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejeph/14738

Publication date: 18 Jun 2024

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Article Downloads: 222

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