Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Challenges Implementing Oral Health Promotion at Schools: Perspectives of Teachers and Health Managers

  • Published:
Early Childhood Education Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The school setting, identified as a creative and cost effective way for improving oral health, provides an ideal opportunity for preventing oral diseases in the influential stages of a child’s life when lifelong beliefs, attitudes and skills are developed. Although oral health has been included in the Integrated School Health Policy, there is a lack of published evidence on whether this has been translated into practice and evaluated. This study, which was conducted at 23 health promoting schools from the 11 districts in KwaZulu-Natal, investigated the challenges experienced for the inclusion of oral health promotion activities at schools. Mixed methods, using both qualitative and quantitative components, were used for this study. However, this paper reports only on the qualitative component focusing on the challenges experienced and perspectives of teachers and health promotion managers from data obtained during interviews and focus group discussions. Results demonstrate that although oral health promotion activities was incorporated into the school programme, teachers and school health nurses lacked capacity and resources to implement these programmes. The school setting therefore has the potential to improve the oral health status of children in South Africa provided teachers and school health nurses are equipped with the necessary training and resources.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ahmad, M. S. (2015). Oral health knowledge and attitude among primary school teachers of Madinah, Saudi Arabia. The Journal of Contemporary Dental Practice, 16(4), 275–279.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • al-Tamimi, S., & Petersen, P. E. (1998). Oral health situation of school children, mothers and school teachers in Saudi Arabia. International Dental Journal, 48(3), 180–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arthur, A., Barnard, M., Day, N., Ferguson, C., Gilby, N., & Hussey, D. (2011). Evaluation of the National Healthy Schools Programme Final Report. National Centre for Social Research, 1–136. Retrieved from http://natcen.ac.uk/our-research/research/evaluation-of-the-national-healthy-schools-programme/.

  • Bere, E., Veierod, M. B., & Klepp, K. I. (2005). The Norwegian School Fruit Programme: Evaluating paid vs. no-cost subscriptions. Preventive Medicine, 41, 463–470.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chandrashekar, B. R., Suma, S., Kiran, K., & Manjunath, B. C. (2012). The use of school teachers to promote oral hygiene in some secondary school students at Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India: A short term prospective pilot study. Journal Family Community Medicine, 19(3), 184–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Department of Basic Education. (2011). National Curriculum Statement. Pretoria: Government Printing. Retrieved from https://www.education.gov.za/Curriculum/CurriculumAssessmentPolicyStatements(CAPS).aspx.

  • Department of Co-Operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Province of KwaZulu-Natal. (2013). Provincial Infrastructure and Services Backlogs (Electricity, Water and Sanitation). Pietermaritzburg: Department of Co-Operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Province of KwaZulu-Natal.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department of Health. (2003). Report National Children’s Oral Health Survey. Retrieved from South Africa.

  • Department of Health. (2010a). Draft National Oral Health Strategy. Retrieved from Pretoria.

  • Department of Health. (2010b). KwaZulu-Natal Health—Strategic plan 2010–2014. Retrieved from Pietermaritzburg. http://www.kznhealth.gov.za/stratplan2010-14.pdf.

  • Department of Health and Basic Education. (2012). Integrated school health policy. Retrieved from Pretoria. https://serve.mg.co.za/content/documents/2017/06/14/integratedschoolhealthpolicydbeanddoh.pdf.

  • Elfituri, A. A. (2011). Role of health education in promoting health in Libya: Evaluation of the existing situation and assessment of future needs. Brunel University: PhD Theses.

    Google Scholar 

  • French, S., Jeffery, R., Story, M., Breitlow, K., Baxter, J., & Hannan, P. (2001). Pricing and promotion effects on low-fat vending snack purchases: The CHIPS Study. American Journal Public Health, 91, 112–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gambhir, R. S., Sohi, R. K., Nanda, T., Sawhney, G. S., & Setia, S. (2013). Impact of School Based Oral Health Education Programmes in India: A systematic review. Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research, 7(12), 3107–3110.

    Google Scholar 

  • Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) 2016 Disease and Injury Incidence and Prevalence Collaborators. (2017). Global, regional and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 328 diseases and injuries for 195 countries, 1990–2016: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet, 390(10100), 1211–1259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green, J., & Tones, K. (1999). Towards a secure evidence base for health promotion. The Journal of Public Health Medicine, 21, 133–139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Griebler, U., Rojatz, D., Simovska, V., & Forster, R. (2017). Effects of student participation in school health promotion: A systematic review. Health Promotion International, 32, 195–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haque, S. E., Rahman, M., Itsuko, M. M., Kayako, S., Tsutsumi, A., Islam, M. J., & Mostofa, M. G. (2016). Effect of a school-based oral health education in preventing untreated dental caries and increasing knowledge, attitude, and practices among adolescents in Bangladesh. BMC Oral Health, 16, 44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jurgensen, N., & Petersen, P. E. (2013). Promoting oral health of children through schools—Results from a WHO global survey 2012. Community Dental Health, 30, 204–218.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kizito, A., Meredith, C., Wang, Y., Kasangaki, A., & Macnab, A. J. (2014). Oral health promotion in schools: Rationale and evaluation. Health Education, 114(4), 293–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kwan, S. Y. L., Petersen, P. E., Pine, C. M., & Borutta, A. (2005). Health-promoting schools: An opportunity for oral health promotion. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 83(9), 677–685.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maranhao, M. C., de Araujo, L. P., Vieira, K. A., & Costa, L. S. (2014). Dental health knowledge and attitudes of primary school teachers toward dental health education in Maceio, Brazil. Brazilian Research in Pediatric Dentistry and Integrated Clinic, 14(2), 115–128.

    Google Scholar 

  • Myburgh, N. G., Hobdell, M. H., & Lalloo, R. (2004). African countries propose a regional oral health strategy: The Dakar Report from 1998. Oral Diseases, 10, 129–137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Department of Health and all Oral Health Stakeholders. (2010). National Oral Health Strategy—Confidential draft. Pretoria: National Department of Health.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petersen, P. E. (2003). The World Oral Health Report 2003. Continuous improvement of oral health in the 21st century—The approach of the WHO Global Oral Health Programme. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, 31(suppl 1), 3–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petersen, P. E. (2004). Challenges to improvement of oral health in the 21st century—The approach of the WHO Global Oral Health Programme. International Dental Journal, 54, 329–343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petersen, P. E. (2010). Improvement of global oral health—The leadership role of the World Health Organization. Community Dental Health, 27, 194–199.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petersen, P. E., & Esheng, Z. (1998). Dental caries and oral health behaviour situation of children, mother and schoolteachers in Wuhan, People’s Republic of China. International Dental Journal, 48(3), 210–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petersen, P. E., & Kwan, S. (2009). World Health Organization global oral health strategies for oral health promotion and disease prevention in the twent-first century. Prav Gesundheitsf, 4, 100–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petersen, P. E., & Kwan, S. (2010). The 7th WHO Global Conference on Health Promotion-towards integration of oral health (Nairobi, Kenya 2009). Community Dental Health, 27(Supplement 1), 129–136.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, P., Bourgeois, D., Ogawa, H., Estupinan-Day, S., & Ndiaye, C. (2005). The global burden of oral diseases and risks to oral health. Bulletin of the World Health Organisation, 83(9), 661–669.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pithpornchaiyakul, W., Pitpornchaiyakul, S., Thitasomakul, S., Thearmontree, A., Akarachaneeyakorn, N., & Arkasuwan, N. (2009). Tooth brushing activities and related factors among primary schools in Songkhla, Thailand. Journal of the Dental Association of Thailand, 59, 190–199.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reddy, M. (2015). A framework for integrated school oral health promotion within the Health Promoting Schools Initative in KwaZulu-Natal. Durban: (PhD), University of KwaZulu-Natal.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reddy, M., & Singh, S. (2015). Dental Caries status in six-year-old children at Health Promoting Schools in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. South African Dental Journal, 70(9), 396–401.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reddy, M., & Singh, S. (2017). The promotion of oral health in health promoting schools in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. South African Journal Child Health, 11(1), 16–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seffrin, J. R. (1990). The comprehensive school health curriculum: Closing the gap between state-of-the-art and state-of-the-practice. Journal of School Health, 60(4), 151–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharma, A., Venugopal, R., Swapnil, J., Vaibhav, B., & Niranjan, B. (2016). Perception of teachers about implementation of oral health education in primary school curriculum. International Journal of Dental and Medical Speciality, 3(4), 10–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shasha, Y., Taylor, M., Dlamini, S., & Aldous-Mycock, C. (2011). A situational analysis for the implementation of the National School Health Policy in KwaZulu-Natal. Development Southern Africa, 28(2), 293–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simovska, V., & Carlsson, M. (2012). Health-promoting changes with children as agents: Findings from a multiple case study research. Health Education, 112(3), 292–304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • St Leger, L. (2004). What’s the place of schools in promoting health? Are we too optimistic? Health Promotion International, 19(4), 405–408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (Eds.). (1998). Basics of qualitative research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swanepoel, C. (2009). A comparison between the views of teachers in South Africa and six other countries on involvement in school change. South African Journal of Education, 29(4), 461–474.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swart, D., & Reddy, P. (1999). Establishing networks for health promoting schools. Journal of School Health, 69(2), 47–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torrance, H. (2012). Triangulation, respondent validation, and democratic participation in mixed methods research. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 6, 111–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Veerasamy, A., Gage, J., & Kirk, R. (2017). Head teachers’ views of oral health education in schools in Tamil Nadu, India. Health Education Journal, 72(6), 695–707. https://doi.org/10.1177/0017896917733120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watt, R. G. (2002). Emerging theories into the social determinants of health: implications for oral health promotion. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, 30, 241–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watt, R. G. (2007). From victim blaming to upstream action: tackling the social determinants of oral health inequalities. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, 35, 1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wierzbicka, M., Petersen, P., Szatko, F., Dybizbanska, E., & Kalo, I. (2002). Changing oral health status and oral health behaviour profile of schoolchildren in Poland. Community Dent Health, 19, 243–250.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organisation. (1999). Improving Health Through Schools National and International Strategies. Retrieved from Atlanta, Georgia, USA. http://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/66314.

  • World Health Organisation. (2003). Oral Health Promotion: An Essential Element of a Health-Promoting School. Retrieved from Geneva. http://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/70207.

  • World Health Organization. (2003). The World Oral Health Report 2003. Continuous improvement of oral health in the 21st century—the approach of the WHO Global Oral Health Programme. Geneva, Switzerland. http://www.who.int/oral_health/media/en/orh_report03_en.pdf.

  • World Health Organization, & Unicef. (1978). Primary health care: report of the International Conference on Primary Health Care. Paper presented at the International Conference on Primary Health Care, Alma-Ata, USSR. http://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/39228.

Download references

Funding

This research project was supported by research grants from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the National Research Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Discipline of Dentistry, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag 54001, Durban, 4000, South Africa

    M. Reddy

Authors
  1. M. Reddy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. Reddy.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Reddy, M. Challenges Implementing Oral Health Promotion at Schools: Perspectives of Teachers and Health Managers. Early Childhood Educ J 47, 207–216 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-018-0923-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-018-0923-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation