THE IMPACT OF SCHOOL-BASED PROGRAMMES ON CHILD KNOWLEDGE

Abstract

A survey was conducted from April to May 2015, in private and public primary schools of Montpellier to compare pupils knowledge about oral hygiene, with and without school-based educational programmes. The aim of this study was to test the efficiency of such prevention programmes.

A survey was conducted from April to May 2015, in private and public primary schools of Montpellier to compare pupils knowledge about oral hygiene, with and without school-based educational programmes. The aim of this study was to test the efficiency of such prevention programmes.

Methods: Two schools were randomly selected from the 5th and 6th years (49.5% of 5th year and 50.5% of 6th year). A total of 204 children (90 from public and 114 from private schools) participated in this study: 55% boys, 45% girls. They were randomly divided in two groups (test and control). A first questionnaire (A) was distributed to all the children to evaluate their knowledge at baseline. Then a first intervention programme was implemented in the test group. The same intervention was repeated 1 month later. Then all the children, from the test and control groups, were asked again to fill in the same questionnaire (A). The primary endpoint was a score (from 0 to 14), corresponding to the number of correct answers.

Results: The mean age was 10.4 in the control group and 10.2 in the test group with no significant difference (p=0.24). In the test group, the scores were significantly increased after the intervention programme. In the control group, the difference was not significant. ANOVA showed that gender was not significant (p=0.38), but the type of school was significant (p=0.002): the scores were greater in private schools (p<0.0001).

Conclusion: This primary school survey confirms the impact of school-based programmes on childrens knowledge of oral prevention. Moreover, such preventive programmes could ideally become part of the school curriculum.