The Impact of the Oral-Health Education Experiences of Elementary School Teachers on Their Oral-Health Awareness and Attitude

초등교사의 구강보건교육 경험에 따른 구강보건 인지 및 태도

The purpose of this study was 10 examine whether or not the dental- health education experiences of elementary school teachers have any influence on their oral-health awareness and attitude. The subjects in this study were 414 selected teachers from Seoul and North Cholla province. The instrument used by Lee Heung-su was modified into self- reporting questionnaire, and the schools where the subjects were working were visited to conduct a survey for 28 days from September 15 to October 13, 2000. For data analysis, SPSS was employed, and chi-squre, t-test and ANOVA were implemented. The findings of this study could be listed as below: 1. 184(44.4%) out of the techers investigated had ever been educated in dental health, and 230 teachers(55.6%) hadn't. 47% replied they hadn't received oral-health education for the lack of education opportunities. 2. In regard to dental-health awareness and attitude. the presence or absence of dental-health education experiences didn't make any difference to their daily toothbrushing frequency(p>0.05). The use of fluorine was significantly different between the groups(p<0.01), as 42.9% of the teachers with dental-health education experiences and 63.9% of the others with no such a experience didn't use that, 45.7% of the former group and 29.1 % of the latter accurately knew how to brush teeth, and the difference between the two was significant (p<0.01). 3. Concerning student-related dental-health awareness and attitude, the dental-health education experiences make 45.7% of the educated group and 31.7% of the uneducated group agreed to the strong need for oral examination, and the gap between the two was significant(p<0.01). 90.8% of the former group gave counsel to students on dental health, and 77.2% of the latter didn't. The gap between the two was significant as well (p<0.01). 77.2% of the educated group and 41.3% of the uneducated group offered frequent dental-health education, and the difference between the two was significant (p<0.01). 4. Their awareness of the fluorine-based toothbrushing project differed significantly by region(p<0.05), as the teachers from North Cholla province recognized it better than those from Seoul. The female teachers provided more education regarding that project, and those who were older or had more teaching experiences were more aggressive in instructing that project(p<0.01). And the married teachers took more forward attitude than the unmarried (p<0.01). By school location, the teachers from Seoul showed more active attitude than those from North Cholla province(p<0.01), and the gap between the two was significant. As to cooperation, those who were older or had more teaching experience were more cooperative, and the married teachers joined forces better than the unmarried. The gap was significant (p<0.01). 5. Concerning the awareness and attitude of the fluorine-based toothbrushing project, the educated teachers took more aggressive attitude, and the difference between the two was significant(p<0.01). The above-mentioned findings suggested that the dental-health awareness and attitude of the elementary school teachers were under a lot of influence of their oral-health education experiences, and there is a need to develop and carry out education programs for teacher.