A survey study investigating the attitudes and perceptions of tattoo studios towards infection control and hygiene practices

Abstract

The number of operating tattoo studios is increasing faster than ever within the United Kingdom (UK), formulating a growing public health concern amongst professionals. Tattoo studios that aren’t operating safely and hygienically can potentially spread blood-borne diseases as a result. Very few studies in the UK have investigated the attitudes and perceptions of tattoo studios towards their infection control and hygiene practices. This study looked to help fill this gap. Additionally, the legislative controls relating to safe tattooing differs across the UK and can therefore result in inconsistent hygiene practices across different boroughs. This research study used the convenience sampling method, a non-probability sampling method, to recruit tattoo artists in the Greater Manchester area as participants. The study involved the completion of an anonymous questionnaire to understand the demographic of tattoo artists, their knowledge, attitudes and understanding of good hygiene practice and infection control. The main findings of the research study were that tattoo studios within the Greater Manchester area have a good understanding of good hygiene and infection control practices and implement them in their procedures. The overall average of participants who provided an answer that related to good hygiene and infection control practice was calculated at 95.56%, leaving an average of 4.44% of participants who provided an answer against the desired hygiene and infection control practices. Contrary to this, although they showed good levels of practice, 12.9% of respondents didn’t believe that blood-borne disease could be transmitted through tattooing, showing a lack of education and understanding of the reasons for hygiene practices. This study highlights possible reasons for these results, such as lack of mandatory training across the UK and the incidence of ‘underground’ unlicensed tattoo studios operating with low hygiene standards.