Primary Health Center Approach for Oral Health Related Knowledge, Attitude and Practice among Primary Health Care Workers of Western India

Abstract

Background: Health care workers form an important component of the health care system of any nation, they should have adequate knowledge about oral health as it directly affect the general health, of the people this study was carried out to assess knowledge, attitude, and practices among primary health care workers in Jaipur. Materials & methods:This cross-sectional study was conducted among 220 Primary Health care workers present on the day of the survey. Among 220 samples 130 & 90 health workers were included from Jaipur-I CHMO and Jaipur-II CHMO respectively. Statistical analysis was done using descriptive frequency and chi-square test.Results: A majority of the primary health care workers had moderate oral health knowledge level. Anganwadi workers had the least knowledge followed by ASHA (Accredited social health activist) worker, Auxiliary nursing midwifery (ANM) and GNM (General nursing mid wifery). The majority of study subjects have heard about pyorrhea (84.09%) and tooth decay (84.09%) while nearly half of the study subjects (56.8% and 50.4%) have heard about irregular teeth and oral cancer respectively. Sixty nine point five percent study subjects use toothbrush and toothpaste for cleaning their teeth. More than half of subjects (59.5%) brush their teeth once a day while 36.3% subjects brush twice daily. Conclusion:Oral health training should be given to primary health workers so that they can educate village people and make them aware at the oral health problems.

Determinants of Oral Health Behaviour Among Community Health Workers in Kottayam- A Cross-Sectional Study

“…A study conducted by Sandhya et al [7] showed that most of the respondents knew the importance of daily oral hygiene measures that help in preventing dental diseases. In contrast, Yadav et al [12] reported adequate awareness of the active role of sugar in dental decay but poor oral hygiene practices. About one-third of the participants were unaware of the capability of uoride products in caries prevention, while the literature search reveals a mixed outcome on the knowledge scores.…”

“…[9,13] It was seen that the majority of the participants depend on health education programs as the source of knowledge, while awareness programs in mass media were reported as the primary source in other similar studies. [12,13,20] Despite having a profound effect in daily life, social media remains ineffective for the dissemination of oral health knowledge, especially in rural areas. Lack of oral health education, inadequate motivation, and insu cient allocation of resources by the local health administrative system might be the cause for lack of knowledge among CHWs.…”

“…CHWs are involved in primary prevention and can be further empowered to become an oral health guide for addressing the prevailing oral health problems in the community. [12] Their oral health knowledge and attitude are important determinants of preventive oral health behaviour.…”

“…The sample size was calculated with a consideration of the prevalence of good oral health behaviour as 43.2% and precision of 10%. [12] The estimated sample size was 99 subjects. A slightly higher sample size of 123 was randomly selected to account for incomplete questionnaires, if any.…”

“…A questionnaire was developed by combining items from other similar validated questionnaires. [12,13] The newly developed questionnaire was translated to the local language and subsequently checked for content and face validity through a panel discussion with six dental specialists. The reliability coe cient (Cronbach alpha =0.67), ease of comprehension, and relevance to the intended topics were evaluated with a pre-test conducted on 20 subjects.…”