KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND PRACTICE OF ORAL HYGIENE AMONG UNIVERSITY OF BENIN STUDENTS

ABSTRACT

This study was carried out to find out the knowledge, attitudes and practice of oral hygiene among University of Benin students. Six research questions were raised, out of which two were hypothesized and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The descriptive survey research design was adopted in this study. The population of the study was made up of 41,520 undergraduate students in the University of Benin. The Taro Yamane formula was used in calculating the sample size due to the large population, and a sample size of 400 was derived. Three research instruments were used, titled: “Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice of Oral hygiene Questionnaire (KAPOHQ)”. The first was a knowledge test on oral hygiene among students. The second was an attitude scale titled: Attitude to Oral Hygiene; while the third was a practice scale/schedule titled: Practice of Oral Hygiene. The cronbach alpha statistics was used to establish the reliability of the instruments and the r-values of 0.71, 0.82 and 0.87 were obtained respectively. A descriptive statistics using frequency and percentages was used in the data analysis of the respondents’ bio-data, research questions 1, 2, 3 and 5 while research questions 4 and 6 were hypothesized and tested using Pearson correlation statistics and Independent samples t-test. x The findings of this study based on the research questions raised and hypotheses formulated showed the following: majority of the students had moderate knowledge of oral hygiene; majority of the students displayed a positive attitude towards oral hygiene; majority of the students sometimes practice oral hygiene; there was a significant relationship between knowledge and attitude of oral hygiene among UNIBEN students; majority of the students had high level of utilization of oral care services; the male students have more level of knowledge of oral hygiene than their female counterparts; and lastly, it was found that there is a significant difference in the level of knowledge of oral hygiene among UNIBEN students based on gender. It was concluded that majority of the students had moderate knowledge of oral hygiene, had positive attitude towards it and sometimes practice oral hygiene. Also, there was a significant relationship between knowledge and attitude of oral hygiene, and conclusively, most students had a high level of utilization of oral care services. It was recommended that the knowledge gained in oral hygiene should shape students attitude and be put into practice so as to avoid oral diseases; and as well students should ensure a high utilization of oral care services such as regular visit to a dentist, brushing with fluoride toothpaste daily as well as using dental floss regularly