Evaluation of dentistry students perception about the participation on the pregnant women dental care program of Araçatuba dentistry school

Abstract

The Pregnant Women Dental Care Program is developed in the city’s Health Basic Units (HBU) and in Araçatuba School of Dentistry (UNESP), involving pregnant women, professors, graduated and post-graduated students, providing the interaction between graduation and post-graduation; between university, the health services and the community. It integrates education, research and extension, benefiting all the involved segments. The participant students develop promotion and prevention actions with the pregnant women in 11 city's HBU and dental treatment in the FOA-UNESP pregnant woman clinic, contemplating the integral attention to the health. With the objective of evaluating the academics perception about the participation in the Program, it was applied a questionnaire containing 12 multiple choices and discursive questions regarding the service. The data were processed, being used the software Epi Info for the statistical analysis. The discursive questions were described through the qualitative technique Analyzes of Content. Among the 27 participant academics, 24 answered to the questionnaire. About the reason that made them participate in the Program, 33.33% mentioned the search for new knowledge and 25% the contact with the pregnant women. Questioned about the contribution in the professional and personal formation, 50% mentioned the knowledge increase, followed by a better relationship with the patients (29.17%) and larger experience in the treatment (12.50%). In relation to the difficulty in the themes involving the pregnant woman care, 50% related the drug therapy, the invasive clinical procedures (22.70%) and the baby dental care (9.10%). Out of the total, 75% marked their participation as fully satisfactory and 25% as partially satisfactory. The contact with the pregnant women and the possibility of actuation in the HBU was some of the positive items pointed out by the students. Using the qualitative technique of words association, semantic units were emphasized in student’s answers, related to the feeling which the Program woke up in the students, to the educational and social aspects. The obtained results suggested an effective participation of the students in the Program, in a conscious and active way, demonstrating that the developed actions are reaching their objectives in promoting the health education to the pregnant women, besides qualifying the students for the attendance of this special group.