Oral Health Knowledge Attitude and Behaviour among Secondary School Children – a quasi-experimental study.

Abstract

Objective: Improving oral health knowledge is considered to be a prerequisite for oral health-related behaviour. The aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness of an oral health education package (OHE package) on oral health knowledge, attitude and practices of senior secondary school students. Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study where schools (experimental and control) were selected in Abakaliki urban area. Baseline data on oral health knowledge, attitude, and behaviour were collected from both groups with an intervention in the experimental group in the form of an OHE package but none in the control. Another set of data was collected from both groups after four months. Knowledge was rated high or low, attitude was rated good or poor, and behaviour was rated good or poor. Descriptive and inferential analyses were performed; while chi-square statistics and fisher exact tests were used for comparisons. The significance for all tests was set at ≤ 0.05. Results: Both groups had a good knowledge of oral health at baseline with significant improvements in the experimental group on all the knowledge questions following the OHE package (p < 0.05). Overall attitude in the experimental group improved by 68.1% (p = 0.000). Also, there were signs of progress in the behavioral assessments, however, the overall practice level of the experimental group increased marginally by 6.85% (p = 0.006).Conclusion: The OHE package improved the oral health knowledge, attitude, and behaviour of the participants considerably. There were positive behavioral outcomes although not commensurate with the level of attitudes improved. To consolidate the gains of this study, regular interventional programmes in the schools, which for emphasis, could be taken further into their curricula are recommended.