Evaluation of Children's Oral Health Education With Different Education Methods

This cross-sectional study included 10-11 year old 5th grade students from primary schools located in the center of Tokat, Turkey. The purpose of the study was explained to the school principal, and after obtaining their approval, informed consent forms were sent to the parents. The study was conducted between January and June 2022 in conference halls or classrooms within the schools. The study questions were developed by 4 expert pediatric dentists after a thorough literature review. The questions were designed to test the children's knowledge of oral and dental health. The questionnaire was divided into two parts. The first part collected demographic data, such as age, gender, and tablet/mobile phone usage. The second part consisted of 8 questions assessing general knowledge about oral and dental health. Each correct answer was scored as 1 point, while incorrect and unanswered questions received 0 points. In the verbal explanation group, a researcher wearing white coat provided oral and dental health education for 3 minutes using a jaw model. In the animation group, oral and dental health education was presented to the children in the form of a cartoon lasting 1 minute and 17seconds. The animation video was created by the researcher using the test version of "www.vyond.com". The animation featured a character voiced by one of the researchers, informative texts, and background music. The character conveyed information about oral and dental health education, using both voice and text content. In the peer-led reels group, oral and dental health information was presented for 1 minute using a video created on the Instagram platform. The video showed oral hygiene information being provided to a child of a similar age to the target audience with the child then demonstrating the behaviour with music in the background. The video included some text, but did not feature the child's voice or information. All educational methods included the same information about general oral and dental health. Following the education, the children completed the same questionnaire again. Statistical Analysis Data analysis was conducted using the IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS for Windows, version 26.0, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Descriptive statistics including number and percentage for categorical data and mean and standard deviation for continuous data were calculated. The normality of the data was assessed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The Wilcoxon test was used to compare the knowledge levels before and after dental education, while the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to evaluate the effects of group, gender, and tablet/mobile phone usage on the knowledge level at the end of the oral and dental health education. A p-value of \<0.05 was considered statistically significant in all tests.