A dental health education program for third grade Chinese-speaking children

Abstract

A dental health education program will be designed and implemented in an elementary school population in an inner city. A three month study will then be conducted to determine the effectiveness of a dental health education program for third-grade Chinese-speaking children. Pre and posttests will be administered to the pupils to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. A survey of bilingual teachers will be conducted simultaneously to determine the following: 1. the teachers’ needs-assessment of dental health materials in an inner city elementary school population; 2. the attitude of the teachers toward teaching dental health; and 3. the teachers’ needs for bilingual dental health material. The need for bilingual dental health education material is readily apparent. Linsley in 1974 reported that there is a definite need for bilingual teachers and materials in teaching elementary school non-English-speaking children. Robinson, Mobley, and Pointer in 1967 reported that there is a definite need for effective dental health education programs in elementary school systems. In 1972, Masters reported on a study which established the effectiveness of the classroom teacher as a dental health educator. The hypothesis of this study is that within an inner city where there is a large population of non-English-speaking children, the bilingual teacher needs the proper bilingual dental health education materials to utilize when instructing.