Oral health knowledge, attitude and practice of the caregiver at the special needs boarding school in Kuantan, Pahang

• Main Authors: Ab. Halim, Noorhazayti, Harun, Nor Asilah, Mohd Kenali, Norzaiti, Mohd Sopie, Sarah Syuhadah, Kamaluddin, Farah Aqilah
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences 2020
• Subjects: RK529 Oral Surgery-General Works
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/88764/13/88764_Oral%20health%20knowledge%2C%20attitude%20and%20practice.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/88764/; https://medic.upm.edu.my/upload/dokumen/2020120210583535_MJMHS_0445.pdf

Introduction: Caregivers and parents are important to the healthy development of children. Therefore, this study was undertaken to assess the knowledge, attitude and oral health practice among caregivers of children with disabilities. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among caregivers in three special boarding schools in Kuantan, Pahang, who cared for 7 to 17 years old disabled children using self-administered questionnaires. Kruskal-Wallis and Chi-square test were used to analyse the data. Results: Most caregivers were female (73.2%). The overall mean knowledge score was 87.75%. All of caregivers have agreed that sugary or sticky food and drinks can cause caries and toothbrushing for children is important for oral health. All of the caregivers possess secondary educational level where 75% of the caregivers with tertiary educational level assist the children while brushing teeth. However, 71.9% of caregivers with tertiary educational level and 45% of caregivers with secondary educational level had shown poor oral health practice since they were frequently giving sweet food to the children. Surprisingly, most of the caregivers with secondary educational level (95.2%) and caregivers with tertiary educational level (85%) thought children with disabilities can brush their teeth independently. Conclusion: Despite having adequate oral health knowledge among the caregivers in the special needs boarding schools, their attitude and oral health practice however were not up to the necessary standards. The implementation of oral health promotion related programmes in the special needs boarding schools must be taken into consideration in order to tackle the oral health problems of children with disabilities.