Yalcinkaya Sebnem Ercalik, Atalay Turhan
Department of Oral Diagnosis and Radiology, Faculty of Dentistry, Marmara University, Istanbul/Turkey.
Oral Health Prev Dent. 2006;4(4):243-53.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a repeated oral health education programme on oral health knowledge and hygiene of visually impaired students.
The study was conducted at one of the two visually impaired boarding schools of Istanbul, Turkey. The number of subjects was 65, comprising 28 totally and 37 partially visually impaired students between 7 and 17 years of age. A 24-item verbal questionnaire was developed to record their general health, impairment, the socio-economic profile and education level of their parents, oral health knowledge, sources of information about oral health, awareness of sugar in-take/caries risk, frequency of dental check-ups and oral hygiene habits, as well as any difficulties they experienced thereby. They were given individual training on oral care three times with two-month intervals within the nine-month framework of the programme. To measure the oral hygiene status, plaque index (PI) and gingival index (GI) scores were recorded of all teeth at four sites throughout the sessions. After completion of the programme, the oral health knowledge of the students was evaluated using the same questionnaire to determine the effectiveness of the programme.
Statistically significant improvements were found at the level of oral health knowledge and oral hygiene status both in totally and partially visually impaired students at the end of the study (p < 0.001) as compared with at the beginning. No significant difference was found between the knowledge of totally visually impaired and partially visually impaired students.
It was concluded that with an appropriate programme, the oral health knowledge of visually impaired students could be improved. This programme, if conducted on a one-to-one basis, ensures clinical and statistical significance.
本研究旨在评估重复口腔健康教育计划对视力障碍学生口腔健康知识和口腔卫生的有效性。
本研究在土耳其伊斯坦布尔两所视力障碍寄宿学校中的一所进行。研究对象为65名7至17岁的学生，其中28名全盲，37名半盲。设计了一份包含24个问题的口头问卷，以记录他们的总体健康状况、视力障碍情况、父母的社会经济状况和教育水平、口腔健康知识、口腔健康信息来源、对糖摄入/龋齿风险的认知、牙科检查频率和口腔卫生习惯，以及他们因此遇到的任何困难。在该计划为期九个月的框架内，他们每隔两个月接受三次口腔护理的个人培训。为测量口腔卫生状况，在整个培训过程中，对所有牙齿的四个部位记录菌斑指数（PI）和牙龈指数（GI）得分。在计划完成后，使用相同的问卷评估学生的口腔健康知识，以确定该计划的有效性。
与研究开始时相比，研究结束时全盲和半盲学生在口腔健康知识水平和口腔卫生状况方面均有统计学上的显著改善（p < 0.001）。全盲学生和半盲学生在知识方面没有显著差异。
得出的结论是，通过适当的计划，可以提高视力障碍学生的口腔健康知识。该计划如果以一对一的方式进行，可确保具有临床和统计学意义。
