Knowledge about oral hygiene in adolescents of a secondary school: influence of the communicative dimension

Author: Pérez Caldevilla M. A., Balmaseda Niebla C., Hernández González J., Faculty of Dentistry of Havana and Faculty of Psychology of Havana (Cuba)

Keywords

adolescence, oral hygiene, educational communication, knowledge, lifestyle

Abstract

Relevance: Communication regarded as an external condition that permits the psychological development of subjects, turns into a useful tool in the area of health to modify lifestyles, especially when patients are in their childhood years. The Cuban National Program for Dentistry Attention to the People establishes among their prioritized groups children and adolescents. For these ages, it proposes educational programs that, from the communicative dimension, seek to increase the knowledge about oral health with various educational techniques. The research undertaken resulted valuable because it demonstrated the influence of the communicative dimension in education for oral health, validating the educational techniques used as effective. Purpose: To determine if the educational and communicative techniques of the palm tree, the talk, the demonstration and group dynamic; about topics of oral hygiene, influence the knowledge of eighth-grade students of the Secondary School “Felipe Poey” in Plaza municipality. Methods: A research with a quantitative approach was undertaken, quasi- experimental design with pretest and post-test, and intact groups from the Secondary School “Felipe Poey” in Plaza municipality, Havana, in the period April-May, 2023. It was analyzed a non-probability sampling of volunteer participants, including 47 students from 2 groups of adolescents who gave their consent after being discussed what the workshop was going to be about. Results: The level of knowledge about oral hygiene in the adolescents before the workshop was low. Once the techniques were applied, the level of knowledge increased in 93.6% of the studied cases, meaning they increased to medium and high level after the intervention. Conclusion: The educational and communicative techniques of the palm tree, the talk, the demonstration and group dynamic, about topics of oral hygiene, were effective due to the augmentation of knowledge of the eighth-grade students from the Secondary School “Felipe Poey” in Plaza municipality.

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