HIGIENIZA？？O DE M？OS: 20 ANOS DE DIVERGêNCIAS ENTRE A PRáTICA E O IDEALIZADO

handwashing is related to the prevention of health hazards and has been a research issue. this retrospective, twenty-year literature review of publications -available at pubmed datábase- aimed to characterize scientific reports on handwashing (hw), and contextualize divergences between practice and theory. the results show behavior, habit and environment interference as well as care context explain the low adherênce to this practice, besides the need to understand and transform reality, minimizing the evidenced divergences.