WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

*Mamatha G., Sahana B., Dr. Ambika K. and Munirathnamma K.

ABSTRACT

Background of the study: Dental caries is considered, the most, ignored chronic diseases among children. About 40% of pre-school children have dental caries by 5 years of age. Dental caries is the leading dental problem of children 90% of all children have some tooth decay by 12 years of age. 95% of all cavities are caused by specific eating sugar habits like candies, ice creams, canned juice which usually develops during early childhood as a result of changing life style the aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of Structured Teaching Programmed (STP) on knowledge and practice regarding dental hygiene among school children of selected schools. Methods: Research design adopted for the study was pre experimental, one group pre-test, post-test design. Convenience sampling method was used to select 60 school children for the study. The level of knowledge and level of practice regarding dental hygiene was assessed using SKQ and Structured Practice Check list. Planned Education Intervention was organized for the school children and posttest knowledge and practice was assessed. Result shows that in the pre- test, the majority of school children 14 (23%) had poor knowledge, 22 (37%) had average knowledge and 24 (40%) had good knowledge regarding dental hygiene. Data also revealed that in the post test, there was an increase in the level of knowledge of school children i.e., 19(31.66%) scored average knowledge, 38 (63.33%) scored good knowledge and only 3 (5%) of them scored poor knowledge regarding dental hygiene. With regard to practice score, in the pretest, majority of school children 49 (81.66%) were not having good practice regarding brushing techniques and 11 (18.33%) of school children were having good practice. Data also revealed that in the post test, there was an increase in the level of practice of school children i.e., 53 (88.33%) were having good practice and 07 (11.66%) of them were having no good practice regarding brushing techniques. A child to child approach Planned Education Intervention on knowledge (t59=3.86) and practice (t59=3.56) regarding dental hygiene was an effective strategy to increase the level of knowledge and practice of school children as indicated by the computed „t? value which was statistically significant at 0.05 level of significance. Conclusion: A child to child approach Planned Educational Intervention (PEI)) was effective in increasing the level of knowledge and practice of school children regarding dental hygiene and the study findings stresses the increasing responsibility of health professionals in planning and implementing various educational strategies to improve the knowledge and practice of schoolchildren.

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