Research Interests: Hand hygiene; hand-washing; infection control; perceptual control theory (PCT); health interventions and, public health.

Bio: I am a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Middlesex University with a teaching and research background in social psychology. Lately my research interests have turned to the application of psychological theory to the multidisciplinary area of hand hygiene and hand washing.

My research investigates the purposes, perceptions and behaviours of people when they clean their hands. It applies the far-reaching fundamental insights of perceptual control theory (PCT) to frame the problem and uses it as a basis for developing an intervention to enhance hand washing efficacy. This is of particular contemporary relevance as hand hygiene forms part of our defences against established gastro-intestinal and respiratory tract infections as well as newly emerging conrona-viruses.

In the image above, the smooth patch on the back of the participant's hand is UV gel after an attempt at cleaning. It gives some idea of the problem!

Publications:

Sigger, J. (2022). Using a hot-spot procedure in an online study of perceptions of hand contamination.In SAGE Research Methods Cases. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781529604030

Sigger, J. & Dickins, T.E. (2021.) A not-so proximate proximate account of cleansing behavior. (Commentary.) Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Sigger, J. and Dickins, T.E. (2019, September) Applying PCT to hand hygiene. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Association for Perceptual Control Theory, University of Manchester, UK.

Contact: J.Sigger AT mdx.ac.uk