A Model-based Health Education Program to Improve Oral Health in School Going Children

Effectiveness of a Health Education Program Using Health Belief Model to Improve Oral Health in School Going Children

This was a randomized controlled trial to assess how an education program based on health belief model (HBM) may affect oral health status in the elementary school going children. For this, a convenient sample including 112 school going children aged between 6-12 years old were recruited and randomized into intervention or control groups. Education program consisted five weekly session each lasted for 1 hour approximately. Based on the main constructs of the HBM, each session was organized and a combination of educational methods were used in the intervention group while the control group only received the routine program provided by the dental clinic. Measures such as papillary bleeding index; decayed, missing, filled teeth (DMFT) and a scale based on the HBM were used for data collection. Three months after the intervention the measures were administered again and comparisons between baseline and follow-up were done.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Oral Health
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Education program based on health belief model to improve oral health

Detailed Description

Oral health problems especially dental carries are common in school children and education programs may help to prevent these conditions. The aim of current study was to investigate how an education program based on health belief model (HBM) may improve oral health status of the elementary school children.

One hundred twelve 6-12 year children along with one of their parents assigned into trial and control groups using a randomized controlled trial. For trial group 5 education sessions based on HBM were held, whereas control group only received routine education program delivered by the dental clinic. Decayed, missing, filled teeth (DMFT) score, papillary bleeding index, and HBM questionnaire for oral were used for evaluation of the program. Three month after the intervention reassessment was performed and the changes were measured by student t test as well as analysis of covariance test.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 112
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Iran, Islamic Republic of
  • Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of, 1435916471
    • Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 6 years to 12 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age between 6-12 years old (elementary school going children)
• Attendance of at least one parent (either father or mother) when admission and to take part in the intervention
• Being permanent residents of the enrollment area
• Having medical record in the dental clinic
• Ability to speak and understand Persian

Exclusion Criteria:

• Children with advanced oral diseases or other critical conditions or disabilities
• Those who were using anti-inflammatory agents as a routine
• Those who had used antibiotics in past two weeks
• Children with illiterate parents
• Those on ongoing orthodontic treatments

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Educational Intervention; An educational program based on HBM that was conducted using five one-hour sessions.	Behavioral: Education program based on health belief model to improve oral health; Five weekly sessions each one lasted for one hour to encourage participants to follow healthy behaviors on oral health.
No Intervention: Control; Control group only received the education program provided by the dental clinic.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Decayed, missing and filled teeth	Measured by decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) score	Five months
Gingival health	Measured by papillary bleeding index	Five months
Constructs of health belief model	Measured by health belief model (HBM) questionnaire	Five months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Baqiyatallah Medical Sciences University
• Investigators: Study Chair: Mohsen Saffari, PhD., Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 1, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 30, 2017
• Study Completion (Actual): September 30, 2017

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 19, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 30, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): November 8, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 8, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 30, 2021
• Last Verified: October 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Health education; Oral health; Gingival health; Decayed teeth
• Other Study ID Numbers: BMSU.1395.63789

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: No sharing.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No