Effect of Using the For Fun Dental Health Booklet and For Fun Application on Knowledge and Behavior of Early Childhood Parents in Oral and Dental Health Care

Abstract

         This quasi–experimental research aimed to compare the knowledge and behavior scores of early childhood parents in oral and dental health care between parents received knowledge and behavioral promotion through the For Fun dental health booklet and those received knowledge and behavioral promotion through the For Fun applicationon. The samples were 30 parents, divided into 2 groups, 15 per each group, of preschool children aged 3–5 years at the child development center Boromarajonani College of Nursing Nakhon Phanom and Nilawan kindergarten in Nakhon Phanom Province. The collection data tool was the knowledge and behavior assessment form of early childhood parents in oral and dental health care. The scores of parents’ knowledge and behavior were compared between groups using an independent t–test. The level of significant was taken at 0.05.

         The results showed that after the experiment 1) the mean knowledge scores of parent group using the For Fun dental health booklet (X ̅ = 12.46, S.D. = 1.12) and those using the For Fun applicationon (X ̅ = 12.86, S.D. = 1.35) were increased to a high level. The hypothesis tested by t–test showed no difference of mean knowledge scores between 2 groups. 2) The mean behavior scores of parent group using the For Fun dental health booklet (X ̅ = 19.46, S.D. = 3.96) was increased to a moderate level while those using the For Fun applicationon (X ̅ = 26.26, S.D. =5.07) was increased to a high level. There was a significance different at 0.05 level of mean behavior scores between 2 groups. Therefore, the application of the For Fun dental health booklet and For Fun applicationon could promote the knowledge of parents to the same level. However, using the For Fun applicationon could promote the parental behavior better than using the For Fun dental health booklet.

         Keywords: Prevention of tooth decay in early childhood, Knowledge and behavior in oral and dental care, Parent