Evaluating an oral health education project: the prisoner perspective

Objective: to evaluate the effectiveness of an oral health education project to change the oral health-related knowledge and behaviours of prisoners. Method: A convenience sample of prisoners was gathered to participate in the evaluation. Prisoners who had participated in the oral health education project formed the intervention group. Prisoners who had recently arrived in prison and had not experienced the intervention constituted the control group. Both groups completed a questionnaire assessing perceived oral health knowledge, oral health-related attitudes and reported oral health-related behaviours. Attitudes were assessed on a 5-point Likert scale. Data analysis included chi-squared analysis and t-tests. Ethical approval was obtained from the SPS Research Ethics Committee. Results: 107 prisoners participated, 56 were in the intervention group. There was no significant age difference between the groups (X2[3]=2.63:P=0.45). Equivalent proportions of participants in the intervention (77%) and control (74%) stated they had sufficient oral health knowledge (X2[1]=0.20:P=0.65). When compared with the control group, significantly larger proportions of participants in the intervention had increased knowledge of sugar snacking (X2[1]=4.43:P=0.04), smoking and oral cancer (X2[1]=6.04:P=0.05) and regular dental attendance (X2[1]=8.17:P=0.004). 73% stated they brushed their teeth at least twice a day. There were no significant differences between the groups for the importance of oral health (t=1.05:P=0.29), healthy teeth (1.63:P=0.10), healthy mouth and gums (t=1.26:P=0.21) or mean snacking scores between the groups (t=0.87:P=0.39). There was no significant difference between the groups for the mean number of cigarettes smoked (t=0.37: P=0.71). Conclusion: This evaluation showed that the intervention was effective in changing the prisoners' knowledge but not their oral health-related behaviours. This work again strengthens the need for a health promoting prison approach rather than the more traditional individually centred oral health education intervention. This work was supported by NHS Lanarkshire. Grant number: 121.804638.