ABSTRACT
Purpose
To ascertain primary and secondary school teachers knowledge of mouth breathing, as well as to gauge teachers improvements in knowledge of the subject area after the speech therapy guidance program.
Methods
150 teachers from both public and private schools participated in the program. The promotion of information about mouth breathing was carried out as part of the Speech Therapy Program, which addressed areas such as the physiology of breathing, causes and consequences of mouth breathing and the professionals involved in the treatment. Before and after the program semi-structured questionnaires were given out, the questionnaires contained objective and discursive questions about the causes and consequences of mouth breathing. The McNemar test was used for statistical analysis of the pre and post program questionnaires. The comparison between the general average of correct answers was ascertained by using the t-Student test. All differences were considered statistically significant at a significance level of 5%.
Results
Statistical differences (p<0.05) were found in all questions in the pre and post-orientation program questionnaires.
Conclusion
The teachers showed they had some previous knowledge about mouth breathing, however the Speech Therapy Orientation Program proved to be effective and resulted in the teachers showing a greatly increased knowledge about the subject.
Keywords:
Mouth breathing; Health promotion; School teachers; Early intervention; Child rearing