Abstract
Objectives : The purpose of this study was to examine the oral health knowledge, attitude, behavior among 918 secondary students and their needs for oral health education in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Choongbuk Province. Methods : The collected data were analyzed by the statistical package SPSS 18.0, and frequency analysis, correlation analysis, crosstabs, t-test and ANOVA were utilized. Results : The girls proceeded the boys in oral health knowledge, and the high school students were ahead of the middle schoolers in oral health knowledge, attitude and behavior. Those who ever received oral health education surpassed the others who didn't in oral health knowledge and behavior(p<0.01). The students hoped to be provided with oral health education by dental hygienists during regular classroom hours once per semester, 30 minutes to one hour at a once, and their favorite ways of oral health education were videotape watching and practice. As for needs for oral health education, the middle school students had higher needs for that than the high schoolers, and the former's needs scores were above the average(p<0.05). Conclusions : There were differences among the students in oral health knowledge, attitude and behavior according to their school system, gender and oral health education experiences, but oral health education was provided without taking their differences into account. It was recommended, efficient oral health education programs should be developed by focusing on how to take care of and prevent oral diseases, and videotape watching and practice that were preferred by the secondary students should be included in the programs.
