Influencing hygienic behaviour of recreational swimmers : a field experiment on the effect of minimal interventions on pre-swim showering in swimming pools

This study aims to influence behaviour of recreational swimmers by minimal interventions, with the result that more bathers take a shower before swimming. First, a preliminary study was conducted to identify hygienic behaviour in swimming pools and to find reasons of recreational swimmers for (not) taking a shower. Second, three different interventions were designed and implemented, based on the preliminary study and literature, at three swimming pools. At those swimming pools, shower behaviour was observed of the recreational swimmers (N= 3188) before and after the implementation of the interventions. One intervention, based on information provision, had the desired effect: there was a significantly increase in pre-showering among recreational swimmers. Last, a final questionnaire was conducted at the same locations to find out if the recreational swimmers had noticed the interventions and how they evaluated them. Although the interventions were not seen by all subjects, the interventions were positively evaluated. It could be concluded that a minimal intervention can influence behaviour and future research could optimize this effect.