{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]],"date-time":"2026-09-18T02:33:15Z","timestamp":1789698795040,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":56,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,22]],"date-time":"2021-09-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1632268800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"\n Introduction<\/jats:title>\n Improved hygiene and sanitation practices in educational settings are effective for the prevention of infections, controlling the transmission of pathogens, and promoting good health. Bangladesh has made remarkable advances in improving higher education in recent decades. Over a hundred universities were established to expand higher education facilities across the country. Hundreds of thousands of graduate students spend time in university settings during their studies. However, little is known about the sanitation and hygiene practice of the university-going population. This study aims to understand and uncover which factors influence students\u2019 sanitation and hygiene behavior in university settings.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods<\/jats:title>\n This study was conducted in a public university named Shahjalal University of Science and Technology located in a divisional city of Bangladesh. Based on the Integrated Behavioral Model for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (IBM-WASH), we adopted an exploratory qualitative study design. We developed semi-structured interview guides entailing sanitation and hygiene behavior, access, and practice-related questions and tested their efficacy and clarity before use. We conducted seventeen in-depth interviews (IDIs), and four focus group discussions (FGDs, [6\u20138 participants per FGD]) with students, and seven key informant interviews (KIIs) with university staff. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Triangulation of methods and participants was performed to achieve data validity.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n Despite having reasonable awareness and knowledge, the sanitation and hygiene practices of the students were remarkably low. A broad array of interconnected factors influenced sanitation and hygiene behavior, as well as each other. Individual factors (gender, awareness, perception, and sense of health benefits), contextual factors (lack of cleanliness and maintenance, and the supply of sanitary products), socio-behavioural factors (norms, peer influence), and factors related to university infrastructure (shortage of female toilets, lack of monitoring and supervision of cleaning activities) emerged as the underpinning factors that determined the sanitation and hygiene behavior of the university going-population.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n The results of this study suggest that despite the rapid expansion of on-campus university education, hygiene practices in public universities are remarkably poor due to a variety of dynamic and interconnected factors situated in different (individual, contextual, socio-phycological) levels. Therefore, multi-level interventions including regular supply of WASH-related materials and agents, promoting low-cost WASH interventions, improving quality cleaning services, close monitoring of cleaning activities, promoting good hygiene behavior at the individual level, and introducing gender-sensitive WASH infrastructure and construction may be beneficial to advance improved sanitation and hygiene practices among university students.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0257663","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,22]],"date-time":"2021-09-22T14:04:48Z","timestamp":1632319488000},"page":"e0257663","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":41,"title":["Factors influencing sanitation and hygiene practices among students in a public university in Bangladesh"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6851-1507","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Ashraful","family":"Kabir","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shuvo","family":"Roy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Korima","family":"Begum","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ariful Haq","family":"Kabir","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Md Shahgahan","family":"Miah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,22]]},"reference":[{"issue":"8","key":"pone.0257663.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1372","DOI":"10.2105\/AJPH.2007.124610","article-title":"Effect of hand hygiene on infectious disease risk in the community setting: a meta-analysis","volume":"98","author":"AE Aiello","year":"2008","journal-title":"Am J Public Health"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0257663.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph16030359","article-title":"Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Schools in Low-Income Countries: A Review of Evidence of Impact.","volume":"16","author":"C McMichael","year":"2019","journal-title":"Int J Environ Res Public Health"},{"issue":"11","key":"pone.0257663.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e1000363","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pmed.1000363","article-title":"Sanitation and health","volume":"7","author":"D Mara","year":"2010","journal-title":"PLoS Med"},{"issue":"11","key":"pone.0257663.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e1000367","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pmed.1000367","article-title":"Hygiene, sanitation, and water: forgotten foundations of health","volume":"7","author":"J Bartram","year":"2010","journal-title":"PLoS Med"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0257663.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.2166\/washdev.2017.048","article-title":"The sanitation and hygiene targets of the sustainable development goals: scope and challenges.","volume":"8","author":"D Mara","year":"2018","journal-title":"Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development"},{"key":"pone.0257663.ref006","volume-title":"Sanitation: Key facts","author":"World Health Organization","year":"2019"},{"issue":"12","key":"pone.0257663.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e022906","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2018-022906","article-title":"Qualitative exploration of sociocultural determinants of health inequities of Dalit population in Dhaka City","volume":"8","author":"A Kabir","year":"2018","journal-title":"Bangladesh. 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