[Evaluation of oral health knowledge, attitude and behaviour of employees in Mashhad Health Centers No 1, 2 and 3 in 2006]

ABSTRACT

Health is the base for Development and also health level is affected by the development. Through Culture Promotion attracting Public cooperation, we can change their knowledge, attitude and behaviour about oral and dental health. This study aimed at determining the level of knowledge, attitude and behaviour among staff of health and treatment centers No1, 2 and 3 of Mashhad city about oral and dental health. This research was a descriptive cross-sectional study. This study was conducted on 186 staff of health centers in the city of Mashhad who had been selected through multistage sampling. After completing of the questionnaires by the staff, the data were collected and then analyzed by Kruskal Wallis statistical test. This study showed that among the 186 cases studied, 23.1% had good knowledge and 19.9% had poor knowledge about oral and dental health, while only 2.2% had good attitude and 9.2% of the cases had good behaviour. This study showed that the level of knowledge about oral and dental health had a statistically significant relationship with educational level [P=0.004], so that the dentists had the highest level of knowledge and the technicians had the lowest level. This study revealed that among these three health centers in Mashhad, health center No 2 staff had the lowest knowledge level. According to the low knowledge, attitude and behavior of the staff of the health centers No 1, 2 and 3, establishment of strategies for continuous education courses seems necessary