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. 2022 Jan 10;15(1):6.
doi: 10.1186/s13104-021-05887-z.

Identification of the role of oral health educators in elementary schools during COVID-19 pandemic: a competency framework

Adel Khiami  1   2 , Mayssoon Dashash  3   4
Affiliations

Identification of the role of oral health educators in elementary schools during COVID-19 pandemic: a competency framework

Adel Khiami et al. BMC Res Notes. .

Abstract

Objective: Oral health educators should have the required knowledge, skills and attitude in order to meet the increased needs of the Ministry of Education in Syria as well as to perform their duties in promoting oral health in children appropriately during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study was undertaken to identify core competencies required for oral health educators in elementary schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative exploratory study was undertaken. A focus group which consisted of 5 Medical Education postgraduates and 3 oral health educators' training team members were invited to formulate a preliminary list of basic competencies. Delphi technique was also adopted through inviting 12 experts in oral health education to evaluate and formulate a final list of elementary schools' oral health educators' competencies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Results: A competency framework was developed. Fifty-five competencies were identified including 35 in cognitive domain, 12 skills and 8 attitude competencies. A list of essential competencies has been identified. These competencies should be addressed in training programs targeting oral health educators, which can consequently produce competent educators who can successfully promote and provide health care to all schoolchildren during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; Competencies; Educator; Elementary school; Oral health education; Syria.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Competencies’ importance evaluation means values given by Delphi experts
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