Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities doi: 10.1111/jppi.12277 Evaluating the Effects of a Personal Hygiene Program on the Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes of Intellectual Disabilities Teenagers and their Parents Dilek Konuk Sener*, Meryem Aydin*, and Sengul Cangur † *Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing, Duzce University, Duzce, Turkey; and † Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, Duzce University, Duzce, Turkey Abstract To determine the effects of personal hygiene training on the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behavior of teenagers with mild intel- lectual disabilities (ID), this study employed a randomized controlled type, social cognitive theory design. A 10-week, 10-session program was given to the teenagers (17.38 Æ 1.61 years) and their parent. Included in the program were activities covering the washing of hands/face/hair/body, oral hygiene/brushing teeth, clothing hygiene, and menstrual and genital hygiene. At the end of the program and again 3 months later, the personal hygiene habits of the teenagers were significantly improved compared to before the training program. Significantly positive changes were observed in hygiene habits compared to pretraining (p < .001). Compared to pretraining, a significant increase occurred in the skill behavior demonstrated by the teenagers (p < .001). Consequently, it is recommended that the program be implemented by healthcare professionals for all teenagers with mild ID and their parents. Keywords: intellectual disabilities, nursing care, parents, personal hygiene, social cognitive theory Introduction “Hygiene” is a health science that aims to protect and promote health. All practices performed for protection from circum- stances detrimental to health and the cleaning measures taken in their support are defined as hygiene (Soydas, 2007). “Self- care” is the ability of the individual to meet his/her needs, that include feeding without assistance, excretion, dressing, and bathing. These are independent activities that the individual carries out during the day. “Personal hygiene” includes self-care practices that the individual performs to protect and maintain his/her health (Akca-Ay, 2013). Personal hygiene includes activities for which the individual takes responsibility such as bathing, washing the hair, brushing the teeth, and perineal care to prevent disease and to maintain a clean body. These activities eliminate the sources of most pre- ventable infections. Therefore, it is crucial to carry out these activ- ities regularly and adequately for physical as well as psychological well-being (Akca-Ay, 2013; Ar, Kilic, & Akbayyarpuzlu, 2008). During implementation of these practices, the physical and mental status, knowledge level, and sociocultural level of the individual are important. Conditions such as physical or mental disability may negatively affect personal hygiene practices in whole or in part (Akca-Ay, 2013). An intellectual disability is a condition that emerges due to various factors and affects the entire life of the individual. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), intellec- tual disability is the condition of arrest or incompletion of intel- lectual development characterized by decrease in the skills contributing to the overall level of intelligence. These include the cognitive, language, motor and social skills which chiefly emerge during the developmental period (WHO, 1996). Based on their IQ scores, individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) are classified into four different groups: mild, moderate, severe, and profound. The IQ scores of individuals with mild ID vary between 50 and 70 and these individuals are classified as having an educable form of intellectual disability. These individ- uals can learn basic academic and self-care skills; however, their detection process develops more slowly than their peers (Gonener, Guler, Altay, & Acil, 2010). The transfer of informa- tion from short-term memory to long-term memory becomes difficult; thus, transferred information is more difficult to recall and they quickly forget that which they see, hear, and learn. They understand concrete concepts more easily; however, they learn abstract concepts, statements and symbols slowly, and with difficulty (Gonener et al., 2010; Lee & Lee, 2014). Research in the literature on children and teenagers with mild ID indicates that they have non-hygienic lifestyles and weak self-care skills. The quality of their hand washing, oral hygiene, nail cutting, and perineal care is low and they are vulnerable to infections (Ar et al., 2008; Lee & Lee, 2014; Lee, Leung, Tong, Chen, & Lee, 2015; Lohiya, Tan-Figueroa, Crinella, & Lohiya, 2000). Teaching these basic life skills could Received September 28, 2017; accepted August 19, 2018 Correspondence: Dilek Konuk Sener, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing, Duzce University, Duzce, Turkey. Tel: +90 380 5 421 141; Fax: +90 380 5 421 140; E-mail: dilekkonuk@duzce.edu.tr © 2019 International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.