Abstract
The study investigated the hygienic practice attitudes of 500 housewives living in the Seoul area through survey. The suey questionnaire evaluated general information, purchasing behaviors, 4 parts of hygienic practice attitude and the associated factors. The subjects were mostly full-time housewives aged in their $30{\sim}40's$, high school graduates from middle-class families who had been married for $6{\sim}10$ years. The mean score for hygienic practice attitude was 2.9 out of 5 point scale, representing a fairly low hygienic practice attitude except for food preparation area(3.4 pt.). Factors affecting hygienic practice attitude were age, occupation, and marriage term. Practice attitude was positively correlated with age (p<0.01). Full-time housewives had better practice attitude. Housewives with <5 and >26 years of marriage showed inferior practice attitude (p<0.05). In addition, food purchasing behaviors were strongly related to hygienic practice attitude. Housewives gathering hygiene information from mass media maintained a significantly higher practice attitude (p<0.05), and so did the housewives focusing on 'nutrition' and 'freshness' when fish and frozen foods were purchased (p<0.05). In contrast, housewives focusing on cost had a significantly lower practice attitude (p<0.05). In conclusion, the level of hygienic practice attitude of housewives was fairly low and was affected by age, occupation status, marriage term and several aspects of purchasing behaviors. Therefore, it is extremely important to conduct training and education for housewives to improve their hygienic practice attitude and awareness of hygiene.