Abstract
Statement of the Problem: Oral health education may play an important role in the prevention of oral complications of diabetes mellitus. Different methods have been used to present these educations.
Purpose: This study investigated the efficacy of oral health education package to increase knowledge of diabetic patients about oral health in Iran.
Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 371 diabetic patients (187 individuals in intervention and 184 ones in control group) were selected. Knowledge of control and case groups was evaluated using a questionnaire at the baseline. The questions were about oral manifestations of diabetes and associated concerns. Then an educational package about that manifestation and complications was provided for the intervention group. No education was given to the control patients. After one month knowledge of both groups was measured again by the same questionnaire. The knowledge score variations between the two groups before and after education package delivery were statistically analyzed by repeated measures ANOVA.
Results: In the intervention group, the mean knowledge scores at baseline after education were 4.107 (SD = 1.414) and 4.786 (SD = 1.505), respectively. In the control group, the mean scores of patients at the beginning of the study and after 1 month were 4.609 (SD = 1.214) and 4.734 (SD = 1.259), respectively. No significant differences were observed between the two groups (P=0.077).
Conclusion: The results showed that educational package had limited effect on increasing the diabetic patients’ knowledge regarding oral complications. Another method of education might be more effective than this method.