Assessment of the Knowledge and Attitude of Mothers Regarding Oral Hygiene of Under Five Children in Selected Rural Areas of Ambala, Haryana

Abstract

Oral Health is an important component of general health and to maintain oral health oral hygiene plays a
major role. It has also become clear that causative and risk factors in oral diseases are often the same as
those implicated in the major general diseases. The objectives of the study were to assess the knowledge
and attitude of mothers regarding oral hygiene of under five children, to find out their relationship between
knowledge and attitude and to determine the association of knowledge and attitude score of mothers of
regarding oral hygiene of under five children with selected variables. The research approach adopted for
the study was quantitative research approach and design was descriptive research design. The study was
conducted at selected rural areas of Ambala, Haryana. A total of 200 mothers having under five children were
selected by using purposive sampling technique. The tool used for the data collection consisted of Selected
Variables and knowledge questionnaire to measure knowledge of under-five mothers. The Reliability of the
tool was calculated by Cronbach’s alpha and it was 0.81 for rating scale. Themajor findings revealed that
mean of knowledge score was 19.1 and mean of attitude score was 60.9 in the study. There was a significant
association found between the level of knowledge and demographic variables i.e. type of family (p=0.00),
Have dental problem before (p=0.03), Method used for oral hygiene (p=0.00) and concerned about oral
health (p=0.00) in the present study. Hence,It was concluded from the study that the mothers have good
knowledge and positive attitude regarding oral hygiene of under five children