An Educational Intervention for Improving Knowledge of Syrian School children About Avulsion

Abstract

Objective:The prognosis of replantation of an avulsed tooth is affected by the first aid management in the first 15 minutes after traumatic incident. Knowledge of the optimal management is crucial to successful replantation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of educational intervention using the Arabic poster prize in improving the knowledge of primary schoolchildren about firstaid management of avulsion.Methods: An interventional educational study was undertaken. A total of 550 schoolchildren aged 9-12 years participated in this study. Thirteen public primary schools in Damascus city were chosen. A questionnaire was developed to measure the knowledge of schoolchildren about avulsion management. The translated IADT education poster about avulsion management was adopted .The content of this poster was explained to the children. Two months later, the subjects were re-evaluated using the same questionnaire. Paired sample t-test was used to compare the improvement of knowledge before and after.Result:A total of 537 schoolchildren completed the questionnaires in which (N=305(57% were females and (N=232) 43% were males. The findings demonstrated significant improvement in the participants’ responses after 8 weeks(P<0.05). The mean score of knowledge increased significantly from 3.71 in baseline to 4.03 after 8 weeks(P<0.003). Conclusion: The educational intervention showed significant improvement intheirknowledge of children about avulsion after education.This interventional method can be suggested as a practical valuable tool that can be generalized to cover all children in Syrian society in the hope to prevent negative consequences of avulsion.