Authors:

Abstract

Background: Since the most effective way to remove dental plaques is correct brushing, it seems necessary to teach children how to brush their teeth correctly.

Objectives: To compare the effects of two educational programmes of storytelling and roleplaying on tooth brushing method among preschool children.

Method: This semi-empirical study was carried out on preschool children in Aleshtar city. At first, using random blocks method the preschools were divided into three groups of storytelling, roleplaying and control. Then samples were prepared in an available sampling method. Data collection tools included demographic data questionnaire, brushing knowledge assessment questionnaire and brushing skill assessment checklist. Storytelling and roleplaying were taught to children in 4 training sessions of 45-60 minutes during a week and questionnaires were completed before and after training. Finally, data was analysed using SPSS version 22. In all statistical tests p<0.05 was considered as the level of significance.

Results:The study subjects included 90 children aged 6 years, of whom 48 (53.3%) were boys. There was no significant difference between two groups in terms of the average score of brushing knowledge and skill before training (p>0.05). After training, the average score of brushing knowledge and skill in roleplaying group was significantly higher than in the control and storytelling groups while the scores in the storytelling group were significantly higher than in the control group (p <0.001). In the roleplaying and storytelling groups the average scores of brushing knowledge and skill in children increased meaningfully (p<0.001). But in the control group no significant variation was observed (p>0.05). There was a significant positive correlation between the knowledge and skill of brushing (p<0.001.).

Conclusions: The educational programme of roleplaying exhibited higher effectiveness in increasing brushing knowledge and skill compared to the educational programme of storytelling.

Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health, 2021; 50(2): 246-252

Keywords: Roleplaying, Storytelling, Bbrushing, Preschool students