title: Effectiveness of carbonated beverage education on dental students' knowledge and behavioral intent.
abstract: The purpose of this paper is to describe educational efforts to increase dental students' knowledge concerning oral and systemic health effects of carbonated beverage (soda/pop) consumption. Multiple choice pre- and post-tests were developed and administered to seventy-three first-year dental students. An educational brochure was developed and distributed during a lecture on the effects of soda/pop consumption, and four days later, a post-test was administered. Three groups of third-year dental students (n = 19, 15, 17, respectively) also completed the pre- and post-tests with different educational interventions for each group. Results indicated that the first-year dental students' knowledge of the effects of soda/pop consumption improved significantly from a pre-test score of 10.8 (68 percent) to a post-test score of 14.0 (88 percent) (p < .01). On the post-test, 70 percent of the first-year dental students who reported soda/pop consumption indicated that they had considered changing their soda/pop drinking habits after reading the brochure and hearing the presentation. For third-year dental students, there was no significant difference in pre- to post-test scores. This survey shows that, for first-year dental students, the combination of written and verbal education was effective in improving both knowledge and behavioral intent relative to carbonated beverage consumption.
mesh_terms: D002253:Carbonated Beverages / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004497:Education, Dental / Q000379:methods*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D013335:Students, Dental / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires