Evaluation of an educational intervention in oral health for primary care physicians: a cluster randomized controlled study

Abstract Background Family physicians are in frequent contact with patients, and their contribution to oral health promotion programs could be utilized more effectively. We implemented an oral health care (OHC) educational seminar for physicians and evaluated its impact on their knowledge retention...

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Main Authors: Simin Z. Mohebbi, Sepideh Rabiei, Reza Yazdani, Pentti Nieminen, Jorma I. Virtanen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2018-12-01
Series:BMC Oral Health
Subjects:
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12903-018-0676-2
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author Simin Z. Mohebbi
Sepideh Rabiei
Reza Yazdani
Pentti Nieminen
Jorma I. Virtanen
author_facet Simin Z. Mohebbi
Sepideh Rabiei
Reza Yazdani
Pentti Nieminen
Jorma I. Virtanen
author_sort Simin Z. Mohebbi
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background Family physicians are in frequent contact with patients, and their contribution to oral health promotion programs could be utilized more effectively. We implemented an oral health care (OHC) educational seminar for physicians and evaluated its impact on their knowledge retention in OHC. Methods We conducted an educational trial for primary care physicians (n = 106) working in Public Health Centers in Tehran city. We launched a self-administered questionnaire about pediatric dentistry, general dental, and dentistry-related medical knowledge and backgrounds. Physicians in intervention group A (n = 38) received an educational intervention (Booklet, Continuous Medical Education (CME), and Pamphlet), and those in group B (n = 32) received only an OHC pamphlet. Group C (n = 36) served as the control. A post-intervention survey followed four months later to measure the difference in the physicians’ knowledge; the Chi-square test, ANOVA and linear regression analysis served for statistical analysis. Results The intervention significantly increased the physicians’ oral health knowledge scores in all three domains and their total knowledge score (p <  0.001). Those physicians who had lower knowledge scores at the baseline showed a higher increase in their post-intervention knowledge. The models showed no associations between the background variables and the knowledge change. Conclusion The primary care physicians’ OHC knowledge improved considerably after an educational seminar with a reminder. These findings suggest that OHC topics should be included in physicians’ CME programs or in their curriculum to promote oral health, especially among non-privileged populations.
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spelling doaj.art-1ed884d0ee5d47279866ecbc868484af2022-12-22T03:30:17ZengBMCBMC Oral Health1472-68312018-12-011811710.1186/s12903-018-0676-2Evaluation of an educational intervention in oral health for primary care physicians: a cluster randomized controlled studySimin Z. Mohebbi0Sepideh Rabiei1Reza Yazdani2Pentti Nieminen3Jorma I. Virtanen4Research Center for Caries Prevention, Dentistry Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical SciencesResearch Center for Caries Prevention, Dentistry Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical SciencesResearch Center for Caries Prevention, Dentistry Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical SciencesMedical Informatics and Statistics Research Group, University of OuluDepartment of Clinical Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of BergenAbstract Background Family physicians are in frequent contact with patients, and their contribution to oral health promotion programs could be utilized more effectively. We implemented an oral health care (OHC) educational seminar for physicians and evaluated its impact on their knowledge retention in OHC. Methods We conducted an educational trial for primary care physicians (n = 106) working in Public Health Centers in Tehran city. We launched a self-administered questionnaire about pediatric dentistry, general dental, and dentistry-related medical knowledge and backgrounds. Physicians in intervention group A (n = 38) received an educational intervention (Booklet, Continuous Medical Education (CME), and Pamphlet), and those in group B (n = 32) received only an OHC pamphlet. Group C (n = 36) served as the control. A post-intervention survey followed four months later to measure the difference in the physicians’ knowledge; the Chi-square test, ANOVA and linear regression analysis served for statistical analysis. Results The intervention significantly increased the physicians’ oral health knowledge scores in all three domains and their total knowledge score (p <  0.001). Those physicians who had lower knowledge scores at the baseline showed a higher increase in their post-intervention knowledge. The models showed no associations between the background variables and the knowledge change. Conclusion The primary care physicians’ OHC knowledge improved considerably after an educational seminar with a reminder. These findings suggest that OHC topics should be included in physicians’ CME programs or in their curriculum to promote oral health, especially among non-privileged populations.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12903-018-0676-2EducationalInterventionOral healthPrimary carePhysicians
spellingShingle Simin Z. Mohebbi
Sepideh Rabiei
Reza Yazdani
Pentti Nieminen
Jorma I. Virtanen
Evaluation of an educational intervention in oral health for primary care physicians: a cluster randomized controlled study
BMC Oral Health
Educational
Intervention
Oral health
Primary care
Physicians
title Evaluation of an educational intervention in oral health for primary care physicians: a cluster randomized controlled study
title_full Evaluation of an educational intervention in oral health for primary care physicians: a cluster randomized controlled study
title_fullStr Evaluation of an educational intervention in oral health for primary care physicians: a cluster randomized controlled study
title_full_unstemmed Evaluation of an educational intervention in oral health for primary care physicians: a cluster randomized controlled study
title_short Evaluation of an educational intervention in oral health for primary care physicians: a cluster randomized controlled study
title_sort evaluation of an educational intervention in oral health for primary care physicians a cluster randomized controlled study
topic Educational
Intervention
Oral health
Primary care
Physicians
url http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12903-018-0676-2
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