Effects of the promoting program for oral health literacy on oral health care behaviors among upper primary students in Takha sub-district, Bang Pla Ma district, Suphanburi province
Abstract:
The problem of oral health is one of the important problems among school-aged children, especially those with decayed permanent teeth since this problem directly affects their quality of life, possibly lasting until they are older. This quasi-experimental research, one group pretest-posttest design, aims to investigate the effects of the promoting program for oral health literacy (OHL) on oral health care behaviors. Subjects were 31 students studying in prathomsuksa fifth and sixth in two public schools in Thaka sub-district, Bang Pla Ma district, Suphan Buri province. All participants yieldd the intervention in five times as the five lesson plans for a total of 8 hours and 30 minutes. Questionnaire was used to assess the OHL promoting program from December, 2020 to January, 2021. In terms of data analysis, descriptive statistics and Paired samples t-test were employed. The key findings revealed that students' average posttest scores had significantly higher than average pretest scores of the two outputs namely, (1) three components of OHL: access, understand and appraisal, and (2) two facets of oral health care behaviors: oral hygiene behaviors, and food consumption (p < 0.001). In the meanwhile, the average score of the apply component of OHL, displayed no differences between pretest and posttest (p > 0.05). IMPLICATION OF THEMATIC PAPER. The dental health providers of Tambon Health Promoting Hospitals in the area and nearby sub-districts should apply the OHL promoting program in order to encourage students to have OHL at high level and proper oral health care behaviors by emphasizing on tooth brush position as well as following up the student's brushing method with the modified bass technique at least every semester. Additionally, it is important for parents to monitor their children's brushing behaviors in order for students to continue having a good oral health status.