Research Article: Are Teachers Working with Visually Impaired Children Prepared to Be Advocates of Oral Health? Pilot Study
Abstract:
Background: Children and adolescents with visual impairment are at increased risk of oral cavity diseases. Pro-health education in their prevention and the role of educators and school counselors are extremely important in this aspect. The aim of the study was to collect information, and compare and analyze the level of pro-health awareness in the field of oral health prevention among teachers working with visually impaired children in Poland and Slovakia. Methods: The questionnaire survey covered 109 school educators working with visually impaired children. The survey contained general information about participants concerning their knowledge of oral health, basic information about oral hygiene, and children’s care needs in this area. The obtained results were statistically analyzed. Results: The level of knowledge about oral health was assessed by the majority of respondents as rather good (60.56%), 28.44% as very good, and 11.01% as middling. Teaching children about oral hygiene at school was declared by a majority of them and over half of the correct answers were given by only 48.42% of the respondents. Conclusions: It is advisable to intensify the oral cavity diseases prevention training of teachers working with visually impaired children and youth and there is a great need to organize and carry out educational campaigns in schools for them.
Introduction:
According to the Vision Loss Expert Group (VLEG) of the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) there are 43 million blind people in the world; 295 million people experience moderate to severe vision impairment and 258 million people experience mild vision impairment. It is estimated that the number of blind children in the world is 2 million. In addition, 30 million experience moderate to severe sight loss and 58 million experience mild sight loss [1]. The most common causes of visual impairment in children are…
Read more