Sources of oral health information and teaching materials for primary schoolteachers in Rungwe district, Tanzania

• Published in: International dental journal 2002-12, Vol.52 (6), p.469-474
• Main Authors: Mwangosi, Ibrahim E.A.T., Mwakatobe, Kisa M., Astrom, Anne N.K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cross-Sectional Studies; Dentistry; Faculty - statistics & numerical data; Health Education, Dental; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Humans; Information Dissemination - methods; oral health education teaching materials; School teachers; sources of oral health information; Surveys and Questionnaires; Tanzania; Teaching Materials; Textbooks as Topic
• ISSN: 0020-6539; 1875-595X
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1875-595X.2002.tb00644.x

Objective: To determine the various major sources of Oral Health Education (OHE) for primary school teachers in Rungwe District, Mbeya Region, Tanzania. Design: Cross‐sectional study using a self‐administered close‐ended questionnaire. Participants and setting: 232 rural and urban in‐service primary school teachers and 195 final‐year‐teacher trainees at college. Main outcome measures: Socio‐demographic factors, common teachers' OHE sources, common sources of OHE teaching aides, and teachers' previous OHE training opportunity. Results: Textbooks and a dental clinic were found to be the most common sources of OHE for a large proportion of in‐service and trainee teachers, while neighbours and a teachers' college were reported by a smaller proportion. The District Dental Officer was the only significant source of oral health education teaching materials in this study. Conclusion and recommendation: While primary schoolteachers' sources for oral health education information was mainly textbooks and from a dental clinic, the source of teaching materials was largely a District Dental Officer. Details on the particular sources were not sought and further studies are therefore required. However, the findings highlight a need for standardised and equally distributed oral health material sources both for valid information and for teaching in schools.