Abstract
This research is intended to develop oral health education program that can improve quality of oral health of infants by investigating the actual condition of oral health education provided to students major in early childhood education and contents and method of oral health education that they needed. A questionnaire survey was conducted for 427 students enrolled in related departments such as the Early Childhood Education Division and the Early Childhood Education Department at five universities in Gyeongsangnam-do. Questionnaires consisted of general characteristics, awareness of oral health, presence of experience in oral health education, necessity of oral health education, preference for oral health education method, oral health education contents. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS(Statistical Package for the Social Science) Ver 20.0. 1. Presence of experience in oral health education based on the general characteristics showed statistically significant differences only concerning the 'school system' and the 'school year' (p<0.05), and subjective awareness of oral health based on the presence of oral health education experiences showed statistically significant differences concerning the 'interest in oral health' and the 'importance of oral health' (p<0.05). 2. Necessity of oral health education based on the subjective awareness of oral health showed statistically significant differences concerning the 'interest in oral health' and the 'importance of oral health' (p<0.05). 3. Necessity of oral health education based on the preference for oral health education method showed statistically significant differences concerning the 'intention to participate in oral health education' and the 'oral health education cycle' (p<0.05). 4. The most necessary information for oral health education is proper toothbrushing method 4.24, cause of tooth decay and prevention method 4.13, helpful food and poor food for tooth 3.97, toothbrush selection and storage method 3.85. Fluoride application and fissure sealant were lowest 3.38. As a result of this research, necessity of oral health education was large regardless of general characteristics, experience in oral health education, subjective awareness of oral health, and preference for oral health education. Also the more the 'interest in oral health' in 'subjective awareness of oral health', the more the 'necessity of oral health education' and 'intention to participate in oral health education'. Therefore it is necessary to develop systematic and repetitive oral health education for students major in early childhood education.
