Oral Health Status of Visually Impaired Children and Oral Health Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of their Caregivers at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia: A Preliminary Study

@#Introduction: Oral health status among visually impaired (VI) children have shown to be poorer when compared with their normal peers. This preliminary study aimed to determine the oral health status of VI children and knowledge, attitudes and practices of their caregivers. Methods: A preliminary, cross sectional study were conducted on VI children and their caregivers attending Ophthalmology clinic Hospital USM. The assessment of oral hygiene was done using Sillness-Loe plaque index and dental caries using DMFT/dft index. Self-administered, validated questionnaires on knowledge, attitudes and practice towards a child’s oral health was distributed to the caregivers. Results: A total of 27 VI children along with their caregivers participated in this study. The mean age of VI children and their caregivers was 11.4(3.05) and 41.7(7.10) respectively. The children showed a fair oral hygiene status. The median(IQR) for caries experience for deciduous teeth (dft) and permanent teeth (DMFT) was 0.0(5.00) and 1.0(4.00) respectively. Caries prevalence among VI children was high at 85.2% (95% CI:70.86% - 99.51%). The caregivers showed a relatively good attitude and practice towards their child’s oral health with mean(SD) score of 23.2(2.95) out of 28 and 12.8(2.15) out of 19 respectively in comparison to low oral health knowledge of 5.5(1.50) out of 11. Conclusion: The oral hygiene status was fair with high prevalence of dental caries. Based on the score, although the caregivers showed to have minimal understanding on children’s oral health, their attitude and practice towards children’s oral health are relatively high.

Assessment of Levels of Oral Hygiene Awareness, Knowledge, Attitude and Practice among the Students of a Government School in Karachi.

Aims: The object of this study was to assess the levels of oral hygiene awareness, knowledge, and practice of the children of a Govt. school belonging to low socioeconomic class in Karachi, and to attract more of the health promotion programs and campaigns towards these less privileged areas so that awareness regarding oral hygiene and health may be emphasized upon them and encourage them about the benefits of a healthy oral cavity. Study Design: A cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in Railway’s Secondary School. Railway colony, near Kalapul, Karachi in February 2015 . Methodology: This study was conducted to assess the oral health knowledge, attitude and practice amongst the students of a government school in Karachi. Sample: A total of 461 students (251 Males + 210 Females) participated in the study through a questionnaire that consisted of 24 closed-ended questions. The data was analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 15 and results were accumulated by frequency distribution. Results: It was observed that 97% of children (n= 446) demonstrated regular oral hygiene practice, results regarding knowledge were also good but bad eating habits were also found prevailing amongst them that need to be addressed. Conclusion: Overall it can be said that the results relating to oral hygiene practice and knowledge were good but only 31% of the students visited the dentist and the concept of regular dental checkup was almost nil. Hence the need for continuing dental education through promotion programs is emphasized with justification.

Assessment of Kindergarten Principals and Teachers' Performance Degree of Foodservice Hygiene Management and Foodservice Employees' Hygiene Knowledge

This research aimed to survey foodservice hygiene management practices performed by principals and teachers as well as examine foodservice employees' hygiene knowledge in kindergartens. Surveys were administered to principals, teachers, and foodservice employees at 392 kindergartens. The total average score of six categories was 4.28 out of 5.0. Average score of the production process management category was the lowest at 3.90 while safety management was the highest at 4.69. Other average scores were as follows: facilities and equipment 4.20, personal hygiene 4.14, food ingredient control 4.35, and environmental sanitation 4.39. Teachers' foodservice hygiene management practices scored 3.8 points out of 5 on average. Hygiene knowledge of foodservice employees was also tested. The mean score of foodservice hygiene knowledge was 76.29%. The lowest scoring category was personal hygiene, suggesting that foodservice employees require more knowledge on proper personal hygiene practices. Possession rates of dish sterilizer, ultraviolet sterilizer, and hand washing facilities in the kitchen were low. These equipment installation rates should be raised accordingly. To enhance control of foodservice hygiene, kindergarten management should pay more attention to education and training related to foodservice sanitation.

Evaluation of the food safety training for food handlers in restaurant operations

This study examined the extent of improvement of food safety knowledge and practices of employee through food safety training. Employee knowledge and practice for food safety were evaluated before and after the food safety training program. The training program and questionnaires for evaluating employee knowledge and practices concerning food safety, and a checklist for determining food safety performance of restaurants were developed. Data were analyzed using the SPSS program. Twelve restaurants participated in this study. We split them into two groups: the intervention group with training, and the control group without food safety training. Employee knowledge of the intervention group also showed a significant improvement in their score, increasing from 49.3 before the training to 66.6 after training. But in terms of employee practices and the sanitation performance, there were no significant increases after the training. From these results, we recommended that the more job-specific and hand-on training materials for restaurant employees should be developed and more continuous implementation of the food safety training and integration of employee appraisal program with the outcome of safety training were needed.

Assessment of Hygiene Knowledge and Recognition on Job Performance Levels for HACCP Implementation for Dieticians and Employees at Contract Foodservices

The purpose of this study was to provide basic data for practical HACCP training. A survey was conducted and analysed on 46 contract foodservices: 13 "Appointed" foodservices (appointed by Korean Food & Drug Administration), 17 "Voluntary Applying" foodservices (voluntarily applied HACCP, but not appointed), 16 "Non-applying" foodservices (not applied HACCP). Hygiene knowledge and recognition on job performance levels for HACCP application for 46 dieticians and 361 employees were surveyed. According to the survey, 61.5% of the "Appointed" dieticians took HACCP training from outside the company, 58.8% of "Voluntary Applying" dieticians took in-house HACCP training, and 62.4% of "Non-applying" dieticians have not taken any HACCP training. As for the comparison of hygiene knowledge, total mean of employees (6.38) showed significantly lower average than that of the dieticians (7.82) (p<0.001). From the result for recognition on job performance levels, total mean of dieticians (3.91) indicated generally good performance while employees (3.41) (p<0.001) showed considerably lower recognition. Hygiene knowledge and recognition on job performance levels of both dieticians and employees showed considerably close correlation (p<0.01 or p<0.05).

Study on Hygiene Knowledge and Recognition on Job Performance Levels for HACCP Application for Employees at Contract Foodservices / 대한지역사회영양학회지

In this study, hygiene knowledge and recognition on job performance levels of foodservice employees at different degrees of HACCP application had been compared. As for the comparison of hygiene knowledge for HACCP application, foodservice employees at "Appointed" showed significantly higher HACCP knowledge (p < 0.01). As for recognition on job performance levels, this status also assured the significant difference between the comparison groups (p < 0.01): "Appointed" showed the highest point of 4.24 while "Voluntary applying" and "Non-applying" showed 3.39 and 2.53 respectively. The "Appointed" group showed the well performance of most of the surveyed items. "Voluntary applying" group showed unsatisfactory performance in various log recordings and some part of surveyed items. As for "Non-applying", many items were performed under the average score as they do not apply HACCP.