| Abstract [eng] |
Aim of the work: To investigate and evaluate whether virtual oral health training for pregnant women was effective and for which social group it was most effective. Material ir methods: Pregnant women receiving treatment at the maternity hospital of LSMU Kaunas Hospital P. Mažylis were examined. 186 participants answered the first survey assessing sociodemographic data and oral health knowledge. Virtual training was conducted for them - four letters were sent every two weeks with a link to the "Virtualus odontologas" website, which contains articles about oral health, its care and the consequences of poor oral hygiene. After the virtual training, a second survey was sent to assess the level of knowledge of the respondents after the training. 98 subjects (52.41% of all participants) answered the second survey and completed their participation in the study. Statistical data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS (Statistical Package fot the Social Science) data processing package. Spearman's rank correlations were used to determine data relationships. Rezults: More than a half (68.4%) of the subjects had an improvement in their level of knowledge of oral health, and they felt it themselves, after rating their level of knowledge on a Likert scale as poor before the training and good after the training. Spearman's rank correlation showed that the subjects' dental condition, oral health knowledge before and the change in health knowledge after the virtual training were directly correlated with different social factors (residential housing status and total monthly family income, education), gingival condition and the number of educational articles read. Oral health knowledge before and the change in knowledge after the virtual trainings were indirectly correlated with the presence of chronic diseases and medication use confirmed by doctors, the time of the last visit to the dentist and social factors – education, age. After the training, subjects' oral health knowledge improved by about 15%. Conclusions: Virtual oral health training was beneficial, especially for young pregnant women with lower levels of education. These trainings were evaluated positively and the participants answered that they would probably recommend these trainings to their friends or colleagues. |
