Effects of Self-Oral Health Care Program on Knowledge and Oral Health Care of Village Health Volunteers at Bohr Rang Health Promoting Hospital, Wichianburi District, Phetchabun Province

Abstract

This a proof-of-concept experiment aimed to compare knowledge and oral health care before and after participating in a self-oral health care program among village health volunteers at Bohr Rang Health Promoting Hospital, Wichianburi District, Phetchabun Province. The sample consisted of 30 participants selected by purposive sampling and participated the program as a one-group pretest-posttest design. The research instruments were questionnaires consisting of 3 parts: general information, oral health care knowledge with a KR-20 value of 0.707, and oral health care practices with a reliability value of 0.706, as well as a toothbrushing skills observation form validated by experts. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics including percentage, mean, and standard deviation, and inferential statistics including Paired t-test and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test.

The results showed that after participating in the oral health care program, the experimental group had significantly increased mean knowledge scores (p-value<0.005), significantly increased mean oral health care practice scores (p-value<0.005), and significantly increased mean scores for proper toothbrushing skills (p-value<0.001). It could be seen that village health volunteers had increased knowledge and improved oral health care practices. Therefore, promoting correct understanding should be encouraged to enable them to maintain proper oral health care for themselves.