A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Planned Teaching Programme on Knowledge regarding Dental Caries among School Students in Rural Areas of Anichakuppam, Puducherry Mrs. Kumari S. Merlin Raja1,*, Dr. Samson Rebecca2, Ms Sountharya3, Ms. Sivasangari3, Ms. Suriyaprabha3, Ms. Devi Susindra3, Ms. Seventhi3, Ms. Wilson Shilpa3, Dr. Ravichandran3 1Assistant Professor, College of Nursing, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Puducherry, Pin-605014, India 2Research Guide, Dean, and HOD-Dept. of. CHN, College of Nursing, PIMS, Puducherry, India 3Lecturer, Biostatistician, PIMS, Puducherry, India *Corresponding Author Email: merlinrk80@gmail.com
Online published on 31 December, 2019. Abstract Dental caries is considered to be major public health problem globally due to its prevalence and significant social impact. The WHO reports 60–90% of school children worldwide have dental caries. For children in particular, poor oral health can have negative impacts on quality of life and academic performance at school. Objectives To assess the existing knowledge of school students regarding dental caries. To determine the effectiveness of planned teaching programme on knowledge regarding dental caries among the school students. To find the association between the pre/post test knowledge scores with selected demographic variables. Setting Selected schools in rural areas of Anichakuppam, Tamilnadu, India. Methods Data was collected over a period of one week in February 2017. The researcher obtained formal permission from the Head Masters of selected schools of rural areas of Anichakuppam at Tamilnadu. The evaluative approach was used to conduct the study using one group pre test and post test research design. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the samples. The sample size was 46. Informed consent was obtained from the study participants. The data was collected using structured interview questionnaire. A planned teaching programme was conducted after assessing the knowledge by pre test. On 7th day post test was done. The data gathered were analyzed employing descriptive and inferential statistics. Results The present study assessed the knowledge of school students regarding dental caries found 39(84.8%) students had inadequate knowledge, 7(15.2%) students had moderately adequate knowledge in pre test and in the post test 13 (28.3%) had moderately adequate knowledge and 33 (71.7%) students had adequate knowledge on dental caries. It showed that there was a significant improvement in knowledge of school students after a planned teaching programme. Thus the investigator concluded that conducting planned teaching programme was found to be an effective, appropriate and feasible mode to develop knowledge of school students about dental caries. Top Keywords Effectiveness, Knowledge, School students, Planned Teaching Programme. Top |