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Effect of Nail-Care Safety Education on Infection Prevention Practices among Female University Students in Nigeria

Abstract

Nail-care practices are an important public health concern because unsafe manicure, pedicure, nail extension, and nail-art practices may increase the risk of skin and nail infections, minor injuries, and exposure to contaminated instruments. Female university students may frequently engage in nail-care activities for personal grooming, fashion, and appearance enhancement, with some obtaining services from commercial nail salons or performing nail care at home. Inadequate instrument sterilization, sharing of nail-care tools, improper cuticle practices, poor hand and foot hygiene, and unsafe handling of minor injuries may increase the risk of infection. Limited knowledge of nail-care hygiene and infection prevention may contribute to unsafe practices. Nail-care safety education provides an opportunity to improve students' knowledge of appropriate nail hygiene, instrument safety, infection prevention, and early recognition of nail or skin problems. Against this background, this study investigates the effect of nail-care safety education on infection prevention practices among female university students in Nigeria. The study will be anchored on the Health Belief Model, Social Cognitive Theory, and Health Literacy Framework. The Health Belief Model explains how female students' perceptions of susceptibility to nail-care-related infections, perceived severity, perceived benefits of safe nail-care practices, perceived barriers, and cues to action may influence their infection prevention behaviours. Social Cognitive Theory emphasizes observational learning, peer influence, self-efficacy, reinforcement, and environmental factors in developing and maintaining safe nail-care practices. The Health Literacy Framework emphasizes students' ability to access, understand, evaluate, and apply information concerning nail hygiene, instrument safety, infection risks, and appropriate healthcare-seeking. Collectively, these theoretical perspectives provide a suitable framework for explaining how nail-care safety education may influence infection prevention practices among female university students in Nigeria. The study will adopt a quantitative quasi-experimental or analytical cross-sectional research design. The study population will comprise female undergraduate and postgraduate students aged 18 years and above enrolled in selected public and private universities across Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique will be used to select geopolitical zones, states, universities, faculties or departments, levels of study, and eligible participants. Nail-care safety education will be assessed using indicators such as exposure to educational sessions, frequency and duration of education, information on hand and foot hygiene, cleaning and disinfection of nail-care instruments, risks associated with sharing personal nail-care tools, safe manicure and pedicure practices, cuticle care, prevention of minor injuries, nail-extension hygiene, salon hygiene, recognition of infection signs, appropriate wound care, and healthcare-seeking for persistent nail or skin problems. Infection prevention practices will be assessed using indicators such as washing hands and feet appropriately, ensuring that nail-care instruments are adequately cleaned and disinfected, avoiding shared personal nail-care tools where appropriate, selecting hygienic nail-care facilities, avoiding unsafe cuticle practices, protecting minor cuts or injuries, maintaining clean nail-care equipment, avoiding nail-care procedures when active skin or nail infections are present, recognizing early signs of infection, and seeking appropriate healthcare for persistent symptoms. Data will be collected using structured questionnaires, standardized nail-care safety knowledge and practice assessment tools, nail-care practice assessments, salon or home nail-care observation checklists where appropriate, and relevant university health programme records. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize participants' characteristics, nail-care patterns, frequency of manicure and pedicure use, sources of nail-care information, exposure to education, and infection prevention practices. Inferential statistical techniques, including chi-square tests, t-tests, correlation analysis, and logistic or multiple regression analysis where appropriate, will be used to determine the effect of nail-care safety education on infection prevention practices. Where a quasi-experimental design is adopted, infection prevention practice scores before and after the educational intervention may be compared with those of a comparison group to determine changes associated with the intervention. Diagnostic tests will also be conducted to assess the reliability, validity, and robustness of the findings. The study is expected to find that nail-care safety education has a significant positive effect on infection prevention practices among female university students in Nigeria. Students exposed to structured and practical nail-care safety education are expected to demonstrate safer nail-care and infection prevention practices than students without comparable exposure. Education may improve students' understanding of how contaminated instruments, poor hand hygiene, unsafe cuticle practices, and shared nail-care tools can contribute to the transmission of infections. Practical demonstrations may encourage students to ensure that nail-care instruments are appropriately cleaned and disinfected, avoid unnecessary sharing of personal tools, select hygienic nail-care facilities, and maintain appropriate hand and foot hygiene. Students may also become more likely to recognize signs of nail or surrounding skin infection and seek appropriate healthcare rather than continuing potentially harmful nail-care practices. However, cost considerations, salon practices, peer influence, fashion trends, limited access to hygienic nail-care facilities, inadequate regulation, and misconceptions about nail-care hygiene may reduce the effectiveness of education alone. The study therefore expects accessible, practical, culturally appropriate, and sustained nail-care safety education, supported by improved hygiene standards in nail-care environments, to contribute significantly to improved infection prevention practices among female university students in Nigeria. The study is expected to contribute to the literature on nail-care safety, infection prevention, personal hygiene, cosmetic practices, women's health, salon hygiene, health education, consumer health, dermatological health, and public health in Nigeria. The findings will provide useful information to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Federal Ministry of Education, universities, university health centres, dermatologists, healthcare professionals, cosmetologists, nail technicians, environmental health officers, public health practitioners, student organizations, women's health organizations, development partners, and policymakers regarding strategies for promoting safer nail-care practices. The study will also provide evidence-based recommendations for integrating nail-care safety education into university health programmes, improving awareness of infection risks associated with unsafe nail-care practices, promoting appropriate instrument hygiene and disinfection, strengthening hygiene standards in commercial nail-care facilities, encouraging early healthcare-seeking for nail and skin infections, and developing practical health communication strategies for improving nail-care safety among female university students across Nigeria.

Keywords: Nail-care safety education, infection prevention practices, female university students, nail hygiene, manicure, pedicure, salon hygiene, cosmetic safety, personal hygiene, health education, Nigeria, public health.