Oral Hygiene–Knowledge, Attitude and Practice among the Health Worker (ANM/ASHA) of Kamrup (Metro) District in North East Region of India

Abstract

Background and aim: Oral health is an integral part of the general health and wellbeing of an individual to maintain the quality of life. As there is no valid and reliable instrument for identifying the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) among the grass root level health workers (ANM/ASHA) in the field of oral hygiene. Therefore an instrument has been designed to identify their concerns i.e., KAP. So that their KAP on oral health awareness could be updated through different training programs and thereby we can achieve the aim to assess the oral hygiene awareness and practice among the ANM/ASHA to provide insight into educational programs. Design and methods: A cross sectional survey was carried out to assess the KAP among the health workers (ANM/ASHA) through self-constructed, 28-items and a close-ended questionnaire. The questionnaire was pilot tested on 34-ANM to identify its internal consistency and the reliability for the different subscales (KAP). After the questionnaire is pilot tested on ANM, then it was again tested on 172-ASHA of the pre-selected zones. Results: The entire questionnaire was developed and evaluated by using Cronbach’s alpha (α) and found to be 0.719. This indicates a high level of internal consistency (α>0.71). Since the internal consistency of subscale items is<0.70, it needs to be further evaluation and development of questionnaire with respect to subscale. In this study it was found that there is a lack of knowledge on oral health awareness among the primary health care provider (ANM/ASHA). Hence there is a need to educate and spread knowledge of proper dental care and to prevent dental disease through motivation, training and education for the health workers to make a healthy individual and healthy society.