The Role of Repetition and Reinforcement (by Peer Group) in Oral Health Education Program as a Base for Health Belief Model (HBM) among Iranian Primary Schools Students (Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial)

Aims: Repetition and reinforcement have been shown to play a key role in the sustainability of the effect of oral health education (OHE) programs. Participants Methods: The present study was based on a cluster randomized controlled trial. The population was selected from fifthgrade female students in Tehran in 2017. Three schools in district 14 were randomly selected as the sample. The students were randomly divided into two intervention groups and one control group. The first group received OHE by the schoolnurse and reinforcement by peer group (SNP). The second group received OHE only by the schoolnurse (SN) without any reinforcement. The intervention groups received four OHE sessions. All of the groups were received the pre and posttest. Then, they were exposed to postintervention after 3 and 6 months. The data were collected by using the researchermade questionnaire based on the two constructs of the HBM. In addition, Plaque Disclosing Tablets (PDTs) were used for determining dental plaque (DP). Finally, ANOVA was used for data analysis. Findings: The oral health behavior (OHB) in the two groups were significantly different after fourtime OHE (p le;0.02). OHB was increased significantly 6 months after the intervention, compared to the control group (p 0.01). Moreover, DP was increased significantly in the control group, compared to the baseline in the intervention (p 0.01). Conclusion: The repetition and reinforcement play a crucial role in schoolbased OHE irrespective of educators.