Influencia de la educación del escolar en las conductas de salud de sus madres

Abstract

To prove school health education programs efficiency, child to mother influence in health knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, is studied. This study aims at contributing to increase knowledge on the efficiency of health education interventions focussed in the school. The influence of children, participating in a comprehensive school health education program, in their mother’s oral health behaviors is studied. A random sample of 152 mothers of children participating in the program and 152 mothers of children without the program, was chosen in 29 public schools of 2 different low income communities. Results show that knowledge on dental health-illness process and illness preventive measures are significantly higher in the experimental group. The use of dental floss is 13,6 times higher in the experimental group, which also shows higher frequency in daily toothbrushing. Only 6% of this group decides on tooth paste selection based on its price, (22,5% control group). In addition, a significantly higher percentage (88,3%) than the control group (58,5%), provides their children with tooth brushes, (56,6%) provides non cariogenic snacks (control 44,7%) and (71,5%) asks for their children’s dental care (control 40,8%). School health education devoted to children is able to influence their mother’s health behaviors. Therefore it shows to be highly efficient.