A STUDY ON THE KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE ON WATER FLUORIDATION PROGRAM AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN BUSAN

Mi-Suk Cho*, Min-Ji Kim and Young-Hee Jeong

ABSTRACT

This study investigates and analyzes the perception of university students, who will be major policy makers in Korea, and the factors that affect their favor or opposition of the project, to awaken the importance of the project and actively support it. This study was conducted to lay the foundation for cultivating the right knowledge and attitude to manage oral health efficiently. From April 20 to May 28, 2018, a mobile questionnaire was used for 131 university students in Busan area, and the collected data were used for the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Science) 24.0 program to determine general characteristics of the research subjects. Frequency analysis, cross-tabulation, and independent sample T-test was performed to investigate the relationship between awareness of oral health for favor and opposition to the fluoride concentration adjustment project in tap water, awareness and favor or opposition of the fluoride control project in public health and non-healthcare groups. The average oral health awareness of the subjects in favor of the tap water fluoride concentration adjustment project was 65.08 points, and the oral health awareness of those who opposed the project was 57.07 points. 90.6% of the subjects who were aware of the tap water fluoride concentration adjustment project were from the public health department.

Keywords: Dental caries, recognition, community water fluoridation, health science college student.