Conhecimento e literacia em saúde bucal de professores do ensino fundamental: o primeiro passo para ações educativas na escola

Abstract

The Health on School Program (HSP) was established in Brazil in 2007 and among its objectives is the approach of the health and education sectors. This program provides for the implementation of intersectoral health promotion actions in the school environment. Inside the education system stand out the teachers in the early years of elementary school, they dominate the teaching-learning techniques, live daily with thestudents, know the social context of them and have great influence on the students' behavior. Therefore, it is of utmost importance their performance in educational programs for schoolchildren. But to have the performance of such professionals, in the context of oral health promotion, it is first necessary to know the degree of informationthey possess (level of knowledge) and how to obtain, understand and use such information for decision-making (oral health literacy). After this diagnosis, the next step is to train these professionals so they can build strategies and preventive actions that can be performed at school. This study sought to have the actuation of such professionals to implement HSP actions under the oral health promotion. And aimed to: assess the level of knowledge and oral health literacy teachers in the early years of elementary school, train them and build an educational material with their actuation. This study was a case study done with 14 teachers from a municipal elementary school in Nova Lima- MG, Brazil. Two validated instruments were used: a self-administered questionnaire 19 itemsthat assessed the oral health knowledge and the oral health literacy test BREALD-30. The instruments were applied before and after the training. The training program caused a significant increase in oral health literacy level (p = 0.002). It was produced with the help of teachers a material (Guide to Oral Health in Schools) with texts geared to teachers and suggestions for activities to be developed with students. Conclusions: the training program conducted for this study has raised oral health literacy level of teachers; promoted the collective construction of an educational material and provided a connection between the education and health professionals.