[Epidemiologic approaches, in school health education programs with particular attention to dentistry]

At the request of the Cultural Union of the Upper Aniene Valley, the social-health workers dealing with school medicine of the Teaching District of Affile (Rome) have tried to define the programming lines for a health education intervention in the elementary schools of the district. The basic requisites of the intervention were pinpointed as: effectiveness, in terms of improvement of health conditions; short-term results; cognitive-transformative methodology having a spiral progression (cognitive, decision-making, implementative and of verification). The departure point of the intervention was the cognitive study on the social-health situation of the school population based on an analysis of the individual data contained in the medical files compiled by the school doctor, standardised and filled out with the pupils' social and family data. Out of 257 children, 212 were examined, namely 82.4% of the school population. The first social-anamnestic data on pupils' families was in respect of parents' level of education, giving the following results: 65% with elementary schooling only, 11% semi-illiterate and 10.5% diploma- or degree-holders. In respect of parents' working activities, on the other hand, a clear difference emerged: compared with 50.4% of worker or artisan fathers and about 33.3% engaged in the tertiary sector, almost all the mothers were still home-based (90.9% housewives). Another interesting fact emerged from the cards, namely that only 69% of the boys and girls have undergone the full cycle of antidiphtheria-antitetanus vaccinations, and only 80% of antipolio vaccinations. As regards pupils pathological anamnesis, cases of hospitalisation were for the following causes: 5.7% fractures and/or burns, followed by intestinal infections (4.5%). Whereas, as regards current pathology the high incidence of a cariogenic pathology emerged, with such high values as to indicate, in the field of prevention and health education, oral hygiene as the priority intervention to be undertaken in respect of the pupils included in the teaching district. The stages of the planned intervention were fixed as follows: -campaign to make teachers and families, considered as the primary educators, aware of this health problem; -meetings with pupils for the purpose of informing them in a simple way of the problem of caries and of discussing together behaviours liable to ensure greater dental hygiene; -involvement of the school and local administrative authorities for the implementation of any measures aimed at favouring the improvement of the behavioural and eating habits of the boys and girls (access for all to school canteens, free dental examinations, etc.).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)