Effect of dental hygienists on tobacco cessation education activities

Abstract

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate dental hygienists’ knowledge of smoking, attitudes toward tobacco cessation, and tobacco cessation education activities, which will serve as fundamental data for developing an effective tobacco cessation education program for dental hygienists. Methods: From 2020-08-17 to 2020-09-05, 184 dental hygienists working at dental clinics and hospitals in Gwangju and Jeollanam-do were surveyed. We performed t-tests, ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation analysis, and multiple regression analyses. Results: Dental hygienists’ smoking-related knowledge, expert attitudes toward tobacco cessation, and tobacco cessation education activities were all high in tobacco cessation education (p<0.05). According to the analysis of the dental hygienists’ knowledge of smoking, attitude toward smoking, and correlation of tobacco cessation education activities, there was a significant amount of correlation (p<0.01). According to the analysis of factors affecting dental hygienists’ tobacco cessation education activities, expert attitudes towards tobacco cessation (β=0.434, p<0.001), tobacco cessation materials (β=0.160, p=0.009), experience in tobacco cessation education while attending school (β=0.152, p=0.010), and attitudes toward tobacco cessation (p<0.05) were statistically significant. Conclusions: The results of this study are utilized as fundamental data to develop an effective tobacco cessation education program, factoring in dental hygienists’ attitudes toward tobacco cessation.

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