Knowing leprosy: the role of Oral Health Assistant students in this context

• Autor(a) principal: Adas Saliba Garbin, Cléa
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Mendes de Paula Gomes, Adrielle, Butarelo, Ana Victória, Saliba, Orlando, Isper Garbin, Artênio José
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Saúde e Desenvolvimento Humano
• Texto Completo: https://revistas.unilasalle.edu.br/index.php/saude_desenvolvimento/article/view/7855
• topic: Leprosy; Knowledge; Allied Health Personnel; Odontologia e Saúde Coletiva; Hanseníase; Conhecimento; Pessoal Técnico de Saúde

Objective: To investigate the knowledge of students of the Oral Health Assistant course on leprosy disease.Material and methods: The study was carried out in 2018 at a training institute for Oral Health Assistants, in São Paulo - SP, Brazil. For data collection, a self-administered questionnaire was used, containing questions on the theme.Results: 79 students participated in the study, with an average age of 31.28 years. 56.96% had already worked as assistants and 53.33% had worked in this position for less than five years. 62.02% stated that they had already received guidance on the disease, and 32.65% obtained this knowledge through the media. 70.89% said they did not know how to suspect if the patient has the disease and 35.44% were unaware of the clinical characteristics of the disease. The form of transmission and treatment was also unknown to the majority. 22.78% believe that patients need isolation to be treated. There was a statistically significant association between knowledge about the cure of leprosy and the level of safety of assistants in caring for patients with the disease (p = 0.0043). Asked what word they associated when thinking about leprosy, most answered “Leprosy”.Conclusion: The knowledge of students in the Oral Health Assistant course is deficient.