| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺中教育大學 === 幼兒教育學系碩士班 === 99 === This study investigated the effects of oral health education intervention on young children’s knowledge (K), attitude (A), and practice (P) of oral health. The main research instruments were a self-developed “Questionnaire on the effects of oral health education intervention on children’s oral KAP” and “The oral health education intervention—Oral health instruction for children”. The subjects were students aged between 5~6, selected via purposive sampling from two mixed-age classes in a public kindergarten in Taichung City. The quasi-experimental method was adopted, and the valid sample comprised of 52 students. The survey results were analyzed using various methods, including descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, Analysis of covariance, t-test, and one-way ANOVA. The main findings were summarized as follows:
1. The “oral health KAP” pretest results of the experimental group and the control group:
(1) In the pretest, the two groups of students scored highest in the dimension of “oral health attitude”, followed by “oral health practices” and “oral health knowledge”.
(2) Analysis of the two groups’ pretest results in each dimension:
(i) In “oral health knowledge”, the two groups of students scored highest for “brushing teeth is the best way to prevent dental cavity” and lowest for “premolars are food crushing helpers” and “molars are powerful food grinders”, respectively.
(ii) In “oral health attitude”, the two groups of students scored highest for “I will accept my dentist’s oral exam bravely” and “I will tell my teachers or parents without panic if any of my teeth drops” respectively, and lowest for “It is not necessary to brush teeth if I don’t eat anything” and “Using dental floss is troublesome, so it is not necessary to learn how to use it” respectively.
(iii) In “oral health practices”, the two groups of students scored highest for “using toothbrushes for children to brush teeth” and lowest for “identifying the location of incisors and molars on pictures”.
2. Before the oral health education intervention, the score difference between the two groups of students was not significant in any dimension or overall scale of oral health KAP.
3. After the oral health education intervention, students in the experimental group scored significantly higher than those in the control group in all dimensions or overall scale of oral health KAP.
4. After the oral health education intervention, students in the experimental group scored significantly higher in the posttest than they did in the pretest.
5. Analysis of “oral health KAP” results by background variables:
(1) Before the intervention:
(i) The students’ pretest results in all three dimensions and overall scale of oral health KAP did not significantly vary by “gender”, “birth order”, and their primary caregivers’ “occupation”.
(ii) Students’ scores for “oral health attitude” significantly varied by “age”. The mean score of 6-year-old students was significantly higher than that of 5-year-old ones.
(iii) Students’ pretest results in the knowledge and attitude dimensions and overall scale of oral health KAP significantly varied by the “age” of their primary caregivers. The post-hoc comparison suggested that students whose primary caregivers were aged between 31~40 performed significantly higher than those whose primary caregivers were aged between 20~30.
(iv) Students’ pretest results in the knowledge dimension and overall scale of oral health KAP significantly varied by the “education background” of their primary caregivers. Students whose primary caregivers had an education background of “college or higher” performed significantly higher than those whose primary caregivers had an education background of “high school or lower”.
(2) After the intervention:
(i) The students’ posttest results in all three dimensions and overall scale of oral health KAP were not significantly influenced by their “gender”, “birth order”, and their primary caregivers’ “age”, “occupation”, and “education background”.
(ii) The students’ posttest results in all three dimensions and overall scale of oral health KAP significantly varied by “age”. Students in the six-year-old group performed significantly higher those in the five-year-old group.
Keywords: mixed-age class of young children, oral health education intervention, oral health knowledge, attitude, and practices in young children
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