Purpose: The aim of the study was to determine personal hygiene practices of students attending two primary schools selected from two different parts of Istanbul and which were of different socioeconomical levels.
Materials and Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted at two primary schools in Uskudar and Umraniye which are considered different by their socioeconomic levels in Istanbul. 348 of 486 students (71.6%) who attended the 7th and 8th grades participated in the study.Aquestionnaire containing 23 questions was given to the students and questions were answered by the students under observation.
Results: In our study, 60.3% of students reported sufficient frequency of andwashing, 94% washed their faces, 75% bathed once in a week, 80.5% brushed their teeth, but 2.3% never brushed their teeth. There was a statistically significant difference between two schools about; efficiency of handwashing, practice of washing their faces, having of own towel and amount of toothpaste used (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Although there are differences between two schools in some points of personal hygiene, generally rates of personal hygiene behaviours are similar between students of two schools. Students' knowledge of personal hygiene isn't at the desired levels in both of the schools. For this reason, coordinating training programmes about personal hygiene and “ability training” for transforming theoretical knowledge to behaviour pattern in schools should be an acceptable approach
