[Effect of role modeling through theater show in oral health education]

ABSTRACT

There are different methods of oral health education for child population. Theater show is a method that has not received enough attention until now. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of using theater show on dental health education in Yazd femal elementary students. This was a quasi experimental study performed by using pre- and post-test method in Iran over the year 2004. One elementary school from each region of the city was selected. Twenty students from each grade of each school were included in the study [n=200]. The information on knowledge, attitudes and practice of oral health were collected by using a valid and reliable questionnaire before and after theater show performance. Data were analyzed using SPSS and Wilcoxon signed rank test. This study showed that the theater show could improve knowledge, attitude and proper oral health practice of children. The effect of the theater show on knowledge was more than attitude and was more on attitude than practice [P<0.001]. Only literacy on the part of mothers was significantly correlated with practice [P=0.021]. There were significant correlations between Knowledge [P=0.020], Attitude [P=0.0001] and oral health Practice [P=0.022] with students' grade level. This study showed that using theater show for oral health education, could improve the oral health related knowledge, attitude and proper oral health practice by elementary school students