A study of hospitalized patients' knowledge and practice of oral health

일부 입원환자의 구강보건지식과 구강관리실천에 관한 연구

This study intended to provide the basic data for developing the educational materials of the preventive measures of dental diseases and of the improvement method of oral health by examining hospitalized patients' knowledge and practice of oral health. It had a survey for 253 hospitalized patients in D General Hospital located in Ulsan from August 10, 2006 to September 10, 2006. The participants were requested to write down an answer to each question. In relation to the knowledge and practice of oral health, 15 questions were prepared respectively and 5-point scale was employed. The study results were as follows: 1. 53.8% of the participants were females and 25.3% was in the ages of 30~39, 44.7% was high school graduates and 26.1% had professional jobs. 41.9% was hospitalized for less than 5 days. 2. The participants' average knowledge of oral health was $3.79{\pm}0.88$ and their average practice was $3.15{\pm}0.98$, which tells that they knowledge oral health, but they are negligent at practicing it. 3. Female patients showed higher knowledge of oral health than males, and the patients in the ages of 30~39 showed the highest knowledge(pE0.05). In terms of the practice of dental health, younger patients showed higher points. The higher their educational and economic background were, the higher their knowledge and practice of oral health were. In addition, the patients involved in office works or public serves showed higher knowledge and practice too(pE0.05).