Aganwadi Community Health Workers: Awareness, Knowledge, Attitude and Beliefs about Diabetes Mellitus and Its Effect on Oral Health in Nagpur District

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the oral health related awareness and practicesof diabetes mellitus and its effects on oral health in anganwadi workers.Study design: It is an interventional type of study.Materials and methods: 200 anganwadi workers from the areas of Hingna, Wanadongri, Gumgaon and Wadhdhamna in Nagpur district and 30 interns participated in the study. In the first part, all the interns were trained for a module that contained what are diabetes, aetiology, signs and symptoms of diabetes, complications, management and prevention of diabetes mellitus in Marathi language. In second part to know the awareness of diabetes, a pre-test was conducted and a validated questionnaire was distributed to the participant. Following this the interns educated the Aganwadi workers regarding diabetes through this module for 30 minutes and also information leaflets were distributed to the participants. In third part post -test was conducted for the participant. Descriptive statistics were used to report the results of the study.Results: The knowledge of the participants was assessed using 16 questions related to diagnosis, risk factors, prevention and complications of diabetes and its relationship with oral health. Out of the total 100 participants, the pre-test showed an average of 36 participants to be aware about diabetes and the post test showed an average of 77 participants to have improved their knowledge.Conclusion: Awareness and education programs should be planned and conducted for anganwadi workers according to community needs.