School children knowledge and practices regarding oral hygiene

Background of the study: School health services are an economical and powerful means of raising standard of community health, especially for the future generations. School is considered as a best setting for the positive health and prevention of diseases, awakening health consciousness in which the child grows and develops. Objective: This study was conducted to compare pre-test and post-test knowledge and practices score of control and experimental group. Methodology: A quasi-experimental design was used to assess the effectiveness of structured teaching programme on knowledge and practices of oral hygiene among children at selected schools of Ludhiana city, Punjab. The sample of the study was children of 6th standard and sample size was 100. Structured questionnaire to assess the knowledge and observational check list to assess the practices was used for data collection. Data was collected by self report and observational method and analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: In control group pre-test knowledge score was (11.64) and post- test knowledge score was (12.12), pre-test practices score was (3.00) and post- test practices score was (3.02). The difference between pre-test and post test mean knowledge and practice score were statistically non- significant. In experimental group pre-test mean knowledge score was 9.96 and post- test knowledge score was 21.5, pre-test mean practices score was 2.54 and post- test practices score was 8.68. The difference between pre-test and post –test mean knowledge and practice score were highly significant p=0.001. It was concluded that structured teaching had impact on knowledge and practices regarding oral hygiene in school children. Conclusion: The study findings implied that the implementation of structured teaching programme has a vital role in improving the knowledge and practices of the children regarding oral hygiene.