韩国口腔保健员对龋齿病因及预防的知识与看法。

Moon H S, Jung J Y, Horowitz A M, Ma D S, Paik D I

Department of Preventive & Public Health Dentistry, College of Dentistry, Seoul National University, Korea.

Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 1998 Oct;26(5):296-302. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0528.1998.tb01964.x.

OBJECTIVES

Because of their formal education Korean dental hygienists have the potential to be the primary source of information on caries prevention for patients and the general public, and influence the use and adoption of caries preventive procedures. The purposes of this study were to determine the knowledge and opinions about caries etiology and prevention among Korean dental hygienists, and to describe associated factors.

METHODS

A pre-tested, 20-item questionnaire was mailed to 1120 dental hygienists selected by stratified random sampling and allocated proportionately. A postcard reminder was sent to all dental hygienists after 1 week. Non-respondents were sent additional complete mailings after 3 and 7 weeks. The response rate was 77% (n=863).

RESULTS

Analysis of six factors thought to be related to knowledge about caries etiology and prevention showed that dental hygienists who were taught to provide oral health education and believe that it is desirable to practice oral health education during dental hygiene school and those employed in health centers were likely to be more knowledgeable about caries etiology and prevention than other hygienists (P<0.05). In regression analysis of the perceived effectiveness of caries preventive procedures, hygienists who provided oral health education during their formal training tended to rate caries preventive procedures as being more effective than other dental hygienists (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, the results of this study suggest that most dental hygienists do not have up-to-date information on the etiology and prevention of dental caries, mechanisms of action of fluoride and effectiveness of preventive procedures. Efforts to increase the level of knowledge of Korean dental hygienists about caries prevention should focus on strategies to educate dental hygienists who have not been taught to provide oral health education, who do not have favorable opinions about the desirability of oral health education, and who had no experience with providing oral health education as part of their work, especially hygienists working in private clinics. Further, these efforts should include the revision of dental hygiene curricula and continuing education courses.

目的

由于接受过正规教育，韩国口腔保健员有潜力成为患者和普通公众预防龋齿信息的主要来源，并影响龋齿预防措施的使用和采用。本研究的目的是确定韩国口腔保健员对龋齿病因和预防的知识及看法，并描述相关因素。

方法

一份经过预测试的、包含20个条目的问卷被邮寄给通过分层随机抽样选取并按比例分配的1120名口腔保健员。1周后向所有口腔保健员发送明信片提醒。在3周和7周后，未回复者会收到额外的完整邮件。回复率为77%（n = 863）。

结果

对六个被认为与龋齿病因和预防知识相关的因素进行分析表明，那些在口腔卫生学校接受过提供口腔健康教育培训且认为在口腔卫生学校期间进行口腔健康教育是可取的口腔保健员，以及那些在健康中心工作的口腔保健员，可能比其他保健员对龋齿病因和预防更了解（P < 0.05）。在对龋齿预防措施感知效果的回归分析中，在正规培训期间提供过口腔健康教育的保健员倾向于认为龋齿预防措施比其他口腔保健员更有效（P < 0.05）。

结论

总体而言，本研究结果表明，大多数口腔保健员没有关于龋齿病因和预防、氟化物作用机制以及预防措施效果的最新信息。提高韩国口腔保健员龋齿预防知识水平的努力应集中在对那些未接受过提供口腔健康教育培训、对口腔健康教育的可取性没有积极看法且在工作中没有提供口腔健康教育经验的口腔保健员进行教育的策略上，尤其是在私人诊所工作的保健员。此外，这些努力应包括修订口腔卫生课程和继续教育课程。