Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Effectiveness of an oral health training program for school teachers in India: An interventional study

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Charu Khurana
. Harsh Priya
. O. P. Kharbanda
. Upendra S. Bhadauria
. Diptajit Das
. Priyanka Ravi
. Monica Dev DS

Centre for Dental Education and Research, AIIMS, New Delhi, India

Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Schools are a valuable platform for promoting oral health through oral health
education as the children spend most of their active time in schools. Training school teachers on oral
health promotion will help to inculcate healthy oral habits in children during their formative years of life.
OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, approach, and
action change of school teachers toward oral health and the impact of this training intervention in
improving their knowledge.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: An interventional study was conducted among 50 primary
school teachers across the country selected by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
A self‑administered, 28‑item questionnaire in Google document format was developed to evaluate
the knowledge and practice of teachers toward oral hygiene before and after the teachers’ training
program. The training was done using a validated training manual on oral health promotion for school
teachers developed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Needs assessment for training
was conducted 1 week before this training program.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Wilcoxon signed‑rank test and Mc Nemar tests were used to assess the
difference between the scores before and after oral health education.
RESULTS: The needs assessment revealed that majority of the teachers felt the need to participate
in oral health promotion training. A significant increase (P < 0.001) in mean knowledge scores of
school teachers was seen after a 1‑day training program.
CONCLUSION: The training improved the knowledge of school teachers on oral health which
indicates that the adopted method of oral health education was well received by the participants
from all over the country.

Keywords

Oral health promotion
school teachers
training
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 10, Issue 4
April 2020
Pages 1-6

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