Effect of Oral Health Promotional Program on Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Regarding Dental Caries among Primary School Children In Minia City, Egypt

Abstract

Background: For optimal health and well-being, oral health is a fundamental element. Dental caries is a prevalent disease both from a community and individual health perspectives. Also, families have to deal with a young child suffering from toothache. The basic mission of oral health educators is to improve information and behaviour in the community. Such understanding requires knowledge that represents the human conviction that has been translated into actions. Positive behavior is the outcome of the sustained action. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of oral health promotional program on knowledge, attitude and practices regarding dental caries among primary school children in Minia city, Egypt. Design: quasi-experimental pre-post-test method was used. Settings: The research was applied in Saad Zaghlol and Huda Sharawy Primary Schools affiliated to Minia City of Minia Governorate, Egypt. Sample: cluster random sample of 400 participant child who were recruited using multi-stage random sample technique. Tools: I-Socio-Demographic Questionnaire. II-Oral Health Knowledge Questionnaire. III- Dental Behavioral Inventory (HU-DBI) questionnaire at Hiroshima University IV- Questionnaire on Oral Health practice. Results: the present study showed that the oral health promotional program(OHPP) become efficient in enhancing awareness, attitude, and skills toward oral health; as the mean scores of knowledge, attitudes and practices were 7.83 ± .488, 6.63± 1.7 and 9.33±1.1 respectively with highly statistical difference before and after oral health promotion program. High statistically significant difference between children about oral health knowledge, attitudes and practices pre and post the assigned program (P= .000**) were noticed. Conclusion: There was improvement of level of knowledge, positive attitudes and satisfactory practices among the majority of the participants children after implementation of oral health promotion program. Recommendations: Integration of OHPP into the school curriculum for enhancing knowledge, attitude, practices regarding oral health and dental caries prevention. Health care decision makers and authorities should provide continuous support to promote the efficient make use of school teachers for oral health promotion of students.