Abstract:
The Lao Khwan dental service program for school-age children has been ongoing since 2007, but program performance has never been evaluated systematically. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of oral health services among school-age children in Lao Khwan District, Kanchanaburi Province. Data were collected using questionnaires with 365 students (Grades 4-6) who study in public schools, including interviews with the project manager, dental personnel, school directors, and health teachers. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics, summarizing, and interpreting. The study found each factor as follows: (1) Input factor: there was sufficiency in both dental healthcare personnel and budgets for program services; (2) Process factor: dental healthcare personnel mainly focused on treatments, and health teachers recognized that students oral health was the dentists responsibility; (3) Output factor: dental workers reached the governments goals; and (4) Outcome factor: health knowledge and cleaning behavior scores of students were fair, but eating habit scores should be improved. Implication of the Thematic Paper: The dental public health department should provide a program assessment every fiscal year to remind the relevant parties to be aware of limiting or flawed factors, to improve program guidelines, and to calibrate their attitudes and strategies, leading to the improvement of the health environment which encourages sustainable changes in students' oral health behaviors.