RCIS

Revista de Cercetare si Interventie Sociala

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Closing the Assessment Loop of Dental Health Education of Children from Disadvantaged Backgrounds

Closing the Assessment Loop of Dental Health Education of Children from Disadvantaged Backgrounds

Autori:

Mona IONAS, Laura STEF

Cod: ISSN: 1583-3410 (print), ISSN: 1584-5397 (electronic)
Dimensiuni: pp. 262-274



How to cite this article:

Ionas, M., Stef, L. (2013). Closing the Assessment Loop of Dental Health Education of Children from Disadvantaged Backgrounds. Revista de Cercetare si Interventie Sociala ,42, 262-274.



Abstract:

This study aims to identify the level of knowledge of a group of children from disadvantaged backgrounds regarding the prevention of teeth decay, after having participated in courses of dental health care. The study is based on 107 socially disadvantaged children. They have been applied questionnaires referring to the scope of the study. After having completed the courses in the dental health field and dental hygiene, the children became more aware of the importance of a proper tooth brushing (77.6%) than they were before the educational program (66.3%). The number of children who acknowledged that the toothbrush is a personal property has increased in percent from 96.5% to 99.1%. After the first educational program they became more aware of the role of mouthwash (the percentage increased from 79.1 % to 91.5%) and of the use of the dental floss (from 50% to 91.5%). Psychologically, a very useful procedure to make children aware of the importance of the oral hygiene is to highlight the loss of a beautiful smile (96%) because of tooth decay or of extractions (72%). All the indicators measured have shown an increase in the knowledge level of dental health care. The knowledge level of the use of dental floss and mouthwash proved a statistically significant increase. The results we obtained showed that the knowledge gap between the use of dental floss and mouth wash observed at the beginning of the study was closed after just one educational lesson. At the end of our program we were able to create an assessment loop process that can offer enough feedback to the management team so as to deliver the most suitable dental healthcare education for the socially disadvantaged children.

Keywords:

Dental decay prophylaxis education; children; disadvantaged backgrounds; questionnaire; assessment loop; indicators.


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