Development and testing of an infant oral health educational audio-visual aid for pregnant women

Authors :

• Boonpen Tikcanarak D.D.S.
• Thipawan Tharapiwattananon D.D.S., Grad. Dip. (Pediatric Dentistry), Cert. in Pediatric Dentistry, D.Sc.D. (Pediatric Dentistry)

Abstract :

Objective To develop and test the infant oral health educational audio-visual aid for pregnant women.

Materials and methods The audio-visual aid containing evidence-based information about infant
oral health care and early childhood caries prevention has been developed and test in 91 pregnant
women having prenatal care at U-Thong hospital, Suphanburi province during October 1, 2008 to
November 30, 2008. A questionnaire was developed to test knowledge and attitude of expectant
mother before and after viewing the audio-visual aid. The efficiency and effectiveness index of the
audio-visual aid were determined. The differences of knowledge score were tested with Wilcoxon
match-pair signed-ranks test. Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney test were used to determine
factors related to knowledge score.

Results The efficiency of an audio-visual aid was 87/70 and effectiveness index was 0.64.
The pregnant women significantly improved their infant oral health knowledge (p < 0.05). The pre-test
and post-test knowledge scores were statistically significantly related to educational level (p < 0.05).
The differences between pre-test and post-test knowledge scores were statistically significant
related to number of children (p < 0.05). Approximately or more than 80 percent of the participants
rated proper timing, speed and contents of audio-visual aid, and highly satisfaction on narration,
illustration, easy understanding, interesting presentation, and useful.

Conclusion This infant oral health educational audio-visual aid promises to be an effective tool for
pregnant women in providing anticipatory guidance regarding infant oral health care to prevent early
childhood caries.

(CU Dent J. 2009;32:89-100)

Keywords :
audio-visual aid; effectiveness; efficiency; infant; oral health education; pregnant women