Aim: The purpose of the study Project was to test the effectiveness of a multimedia game designed in order to attract the attention of primary school children to oral health basic concepts and use the instrument to assess students' knowledge.
Materials and methods: An originally designed multimedia game on oral health was administered in the computer class rooms, before (T0) and after (T1) an educational stage, to third (8-9 years) and fifth graders (10-11 years) of primary schools in urban and rural areas of two provinces of medium-small cities in Center Italy (Terni and Latina). Considered variables were: age, gender, school time schedule (only antemeridian, extended schedule). The statistical test used was the non-parametric Wilcox on signed-rank test.
Results: Response rate was 90.6% (due to absence on the due date). 1,300 students were involved. Overall, the average of the correct answers was 40.7% before oral health lessons and 59.2% after. An improving trend of correct answers was recorded from T0 to T1, significantly (p < 0.05) among: fifth graders (+ 17.5%), extended school time schedulers (+18.1%) and females (+18.9%). The results, however, show poor global oral health knowledge, being total percentage of correct answers below 60%.
Conclusions: The results stress the importance of the school environment as access to health promotion for all socio-economic classes. The multimedia educational approach has proved a valuable and updated tool to attract the attention of digital native children.
Keywords: health promoting school; oral health; primary school.