EFFICACY OF AN AUDIO-VISUAL AID IN IMPROVING KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS TOWARDS INFANT ORAL HEALTH CARE FOR EXPECTANT MOTHERS

Aim: The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a PowerPoint Presentation in Up-grading the knowledge and awareness towards infant oral health care among expectant mothers. Methods: This was a cross sectional survey conducted in various maternity hospitals throughout Jaipur city, India. A 15 minute PowerPoint Presentation based on infant oral health care was presented to a total of 120 expectant mothers. The participants were made to fill a 15-point questionnaire on the same subject before and after the presentation. Based on a formulated scoring criterion, the knowledge and awareness level of each participant was quantified pre-intervention and post-intervention. The data thus obtained was analysed using descriptive statistics and chi square test, with the level of significance set at P<0.05. Results: There was a very high statistical difference (p=0.000) between the mean scores of the participants before and after the presentation, from 5.55 to 13.96 out of a maximum possible score of 15. The range of scores improved from 0-14 pre-presentation to 9-15 post- presentation. A significant improvement was seen in the mean scores of every socio- demographic group (p=0.000). A relatively high number of participants (85.8%) agreed that the presentation would change how they care for their child in the future. Conclusion: Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that the use of audio-visual aids is beneficial in improving the knowledge and awareness towards infant oral health care among expectant mothers. Further research can be conducted to evaluate different designs of various audio-visual aids and their long-term efficacy catering to different socio- demographic groups. KEYWORDS Expectant mothers, infant oral health care, awareness, audio-visual aid, pregnant women, maternal awareness