Washing with hope: evidence of improved handwashing among children in South Africa from a pilot study of a novel soap technology

Table 2 Baseline summary statistics: children

	Full sample			Treatment		Control		Treatment-Control
	n	Mean	SD	n	Mean	n	Mean	Difference	p-value
Female	287	0.49	0.50	153	0.49	134	0.49	0.00	0.970
Age	287	4.48	1.36	153	4.46	134	4.51	− 0.04	0.798
Handwashing barriers ^a
Too short to reach tap	284	0.35	0.48	151	0.39	132	0.30	0.10	0.152
Can’t open tap	284	0.38	0.49	150	0.45	133	0.30	0.15	0.026
Hands too small for soap	284	0.32	0.47	150	0.37	133	0.26	0.11	0.077
Water too hot/cold	287	0.19	0.39	153	0.20	134	0.16	0.04	0.502
Dirty water	287	0.18	0.38	153	0.18	134	0.16	0.02	0.739
Water smells bad	287	0.16	0.37	153	0.16	134	0.16	0.00	0.998
Household water saving	284	0.15	0.36	150	0.14	133	0.16	−0.02	0.751
Sounds from water tap	284	0.06	0.24	150	0.09	133	0.04	0.05	0.204
Handwashing
After toilet (1–10)	282	5.73	3.00	151	5.62	130	5.89	−0.28	0.501
Before meals (1–10)	283	5.35	2.95	150	5.16	132	5.60	−0.44	0.299
Uses soap (1–10)	275	6.93	2.79	144	6.95	130	6.89	0.07	0.870
Health
Illness score (0–14)	249	2.55	2.59	137	2.51	112	2.59	−0.08	0.835
Any illness symptom	249	0.74	0.44	137	0.77	112	0.71	0.07	0.270
2+ illness symptoms	249	0.57	0.50	137	0.55	112	0.59	−0.04	0.580

SD Standard deviation
^aCaregivers reported how often different factors affected their child’s willingness to wash his or her hands. A binary variable was created for each factor with 1 = all, most, or some of the time; and 0 = none of time

ISSN: 1471-2458