{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T17:39:09Z","timestamp":1791999549171,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,31]],"date-time":"2022-03-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1648684800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study aims to improve parents' perceptions of susceptibility, severity, benefits, and barriers to children's handwashing practice by utilizing the Health Belief Model. In Alor Gajah, Melaka, a parallel cluster-randomized controlled study was conducted over 26 months. Parents who agreed to participate completed pre-test (t0) questionnaires. Data analysis used IBM SPSS version 25. The descriptive analysis described the baseline data pre-intervention. Chi-square and<jats:italic>T<\/jats:italic>-test or Mann-Whitney U test for non-parametric analysis assessed baseline data comparability between intervention and control groups. Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) analyzed between and within-group comparison of the outcomes, and multivariate analysis determined the effectiveness of the intervention with clustered data. The individual participation rate was 86%. Parents who followed up immediately had higher perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, and perceived barriers (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>&amp;lt; 0.001). Each unit increment in parents' practice score was 0.02-unit higher preschool children's hand hygiene practice score (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>= 0.045). The intervention effectively improved parents' perceived susceptibility and benefits at immediate follow-up compared to baseline. However, there were no significant intervention effects on parents' perceived severity and barriers and preschool children's handwashing practices. The follow-up time significantly affected each outcome. There were significant covariates as the outcome predictors in this study, besides intervention groups and follow-up time. Parents' knowledge and age of the youngest child were significant predictors of parents' perceived susceptibility, besides parents' knowledge and perceived susceptibility being the predictors of parents' practice score. As a result, parents, teachers, and communities can implement this intervention in other schools with susceptible children.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2022.811782","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,31]],"date-time":"2022-03-31T05:12:26Z","timestamp":1648703546000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Evaluating Health Education Module on Hand, Food, and Mouth Diseases Among Preschoolers in Malacca, Malaysia"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Syazwani","family":"Shahar","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hayati Kadir","family":"Shahar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sri Ganesh","family":"Muthiah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kulanthayan K. 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