“A study to evaluate the impact of child to child approach on knowledge of children regarding dental hygiene in a selected rural area of mysuru district”

Background of the study: United nation international children fund state that children are not only divine gifts, but also the mirror of a nation and hope of the world. Health of the children is a key factor in school entry as well as continued participation and achievement in school. The child spends most of the time in the school between the ages 6 and 15 years. Children are the more powerful channel for reaching out the public health information. It gives a more opportunity to prepare themselves.Child to child approach is a means of promoting health education through children. Aim and objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of child to child approach programme on knowledge of children regarding dental hygiene among children in a selected rural government school in Mysuru district Karnataka. Methods: A Pre-experimental One group pretest posttest design was used and 60 children were selected at Hommaragali Govt school Mysuru district using non probability convenience sampling technique. Data were collected using Selected personal variable and structured knowledge questionnaire to assess the knowledge regarding dental hygiene. A child-to-child approach was conducted for children studying 5th 6th and 7th standard students. The data were collected and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The results of the study revealed that the significant difference between the mean pretest and post test knowledge scores was statistically tested using paired ‘t’ test and was found to be significant at 0.05 level of significance t(58)= 14.3 and The results also depicted that knowledge of children regarding dental hygiene had no association with their selected personal variables. Conclusion: The study has revealedthat the child-to-child approach was effective in increasing the knowledge of children regarding dental hygiene among children. Therefore the study recommends that, it is essential to organize health campaigns and child-to-child approach to enhance the knowledge regarding dental hygiene among children.