title: Primary care nurses' awareness of and willingness to perform children's oral health care.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The majority of young children receive no early dental examination while attending primary health care for routine check-ups. Our aim was to study primary care nurses' knowledge of oral health care (OHC) and their attitudes toward delivering OHC, as well as to assess their willingness to obtain OHC information.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a cross-sectional survey of all primary-care nurses working in the public health centres of Tehran city. An anonymous self-administered questionnaire queried their knowledge in paediatric-, general and medicine-related areas of dentistry, providing knowledge scores for three domains. The nurses' attitudes toward OHC and their willingness to obtain OHC information underwent evaluation with statements utilizing a five-point Likert scale. Altogether 680 nurses took part in the survey. The Chi-square test, t-test, one-way ANOVA and logistic regression model served for statistical analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean score for the paediatric dentistry domain (3.6, SD: 1.5) was lower than for the medical (4.4, SD: 2.3) and dental domains (5.8, SD: 1.5). Obtaining higher scores in the paediatric (OR = 1.2) and dental (OR = 1.3) domains, and a greater willingness to receive OHC information (OR = 5.3), were associated with a positive attitude toward OHC. Nurses with a lower education (OR = 1.9) and better oral health behaviour (OR = 1.1) as well as those working in a non-affluent region (OR = 1.6) had a more positive attitude toward OHC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Primary care nurses' low level of knowledge in OHC and their positive attitude and willingness to obtain more information point to the need for appropriate OHC training and encouragement for the nurses to promote oral health and prevent dental diseases.
authors.forename: Sepideh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rabiei
authors.forename: Simin Z
authors.initials: SZ
authors.lastname: Mohebbi
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yazdani
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Dentistry, University of Oulu, P,O, Box 5281, 90014 Oulu, Finland. jorma.virtanen@oulu.fi.
authors.forename: Jorma I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Virtanen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003729:Dental Care; D004501:Education, Medical; D004506:Education, Nursing; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology; D009909:Oral Health / Q000193:education*; D010377:Pediatric Dentistry / Q000193:education; D011203:Poverty; D011320:Primary Health Care; D012923:Social Class; D014076:Tooth Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D055815:Young Adult