Vinnakota Narayana Rao, Sanikommu Suresh, Ahmed Zaheer, Kamal Sha S K, Boppana Naveen Kumar, Pachava Srinivas
Department of Public Health Dentistry, Lenora Institute of Dental Sciences, Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Department of Public Health Dentistry, SIBAR Institute of Dental Sciences, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Indian J Dent Res. 2017 Sep-Oct;28(5):503-506. doi: 10.4103/ijdr.IJDR_692_16.
Accredited social health activists (ASHAs) are the grassroot level health activists in the community who are involved in health education and community mobilization toward utilizing the health services.
A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the oral health knowledge among ASHAs working in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, India. Five Primary Health Centers were randomly selected, and the total sample was 275. Categorical data were analyzed using Chi-square test. P ≤ 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.
The mean age was 32 ± 5.11 years and mean education was 9 ± 1.329 years of schooling. ASHAs were categorized into two groups based on their education levels, i.e., Group I whose education qualification is <10th class and Group II whose education qualification is above 10th class to observe any difference in knowledge based on their education. Overall knowledge among ASHAs was poor and also it was observed that both the groups were having poor knowledge regarding dental caries, calculus, dental plaque, oral cancer, and change of tooth brush. About 69.5% of the ASHAs were approached by public with dental problems, but only a few, i.e., 15.8% have referred the patients to the nearby dentist.
As we know that most of the dental diseases are preventable, there is a dire need that ASHAs should be thoroughly educated in the aspects of oral health and diseases during their training period. This not only helps in creating awareness among them but also serves the ultimate purpose of improving the oral health of rural population.
经认可的社会健康活动家（ASHAs）是社区基层的健康活动家，他们参与健康教育并动员社区利用卫生服务。
开展了一项描述性横断面研究，以评估在印度安得拉邦贡图尔区工作的ASHAs的口腔健康知识。随机选择了五个初级卫生中心，总样本量为275。分类数据采用卡方检验进行分析。P≤0.05被认为具有统计学意义。
平均年龄为32±5.11岁，平均受教育年限为9±1.329年。ASHAs根据其教育水平分为两组，即第一组教育程度低于10年级，第二组教育程度高于10年级，以观察基于教育程度的知识差异。ASHAs的总体知识水平较差，而且还观察到两组在龋齿、牙石、牙菌斑、口腔癌和牙刷更换方面的知识都很差。约69.5%的ASHAs遇到有牙齿问题的公众，但只有少数人，即15.8%将患者转诊至附近的牙医处。
我们知道大多数牙科疾病是可以预防的，迫切需要在ASHAs的培训期间对其进行全面的口腔健康和疾病方面的教育。这不仅有助于提高他们的意识，也有助于实现改善农村人口口腔健康的最终目标。
