Mother’s knowledge and attitude towards their children oral health in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: Crosssection study

<p>Dhuha Qahtan</p>

Mother’s knowledge and attitude towards their children oral health in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: Crosssection study

Dhuha Qahtan

King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia

: Dent Health Curr Res

Abstract

Aim: To assess the level of oral health-related knowledge and attitude among a group of mothers with children aged between 3 to 12 years. 2. To evaluate the association of a group of mothers with children aged between 3 to 12 years oral health-related knowledge and attitude along with their socio-economic status and monthly income.

Material & Methods: The study design was cross-sectional, and it was conducted between 2017 and 2018. The sample was selected randomly from public and private kindergartens and elementary schools in Jeddah. The study was conducted in 22 schools from different regions of the city, a self-administrator questionnaire was distributed among mothers of children of aged between 3 to 12 years. A total of 1980 questionnaires were distributed among mothers. Incomplete forms will be excluded. Clinical examinations for children were examined by DMFT. Data analysis was done by using SPSS version 22.

Result: A total of 1980 mothers with children aged between 3 to 12 years were approached, but only 1957 numbers agreed to participate in the study with a response rate of 98%. The self-administrated questionnaire was distributed equally to the private and governmental schools. Almost 88.5% of the participants were Saudis. The age of the participants ranged between 19 to older than 50-year and most of them were in the age group of 31 to 40 years old (46.9%). About 9.5 % of mothers has good attitude toward their children oral health and 19.4% and 70% have poor and fair attitude toward their children oral health respectively. On other hand, 35.2% of mothers were fair knowledge toward their children oral health.

Conclusion: The result shows Saudi mother’s in Jeddah mostly had fair oral health attitudes and knowledge toward their children oral health and Saudi mother’s needs to increase awareness regarding Oral health of their children.