Oral health knowledge, attitude, and self-care practices among pharmacists in Riyadh, Riyadh Province, Saudi Arabia

Aim: Identifying and addressing gaps in the oral health knowledge, attitude, and practices of pharmacists is important before they can be considered as a member of the oral health promotion team. The aim of this study was to determine the prevailing oral health knowledge, attitude, and self-care practices among a sample of pharmacists from Riyadh, Riyadh Province, Saudi Arabia. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 200 pharmacists working in community- and hospital-based pharmacies was conducted using a structured, self-administered, close-ended questionnaire. The responses were collected and descriptive statistics of the mean scores of knowledge, attitude, and self-care practices were calculated. MannuWhitney U and KruskaluWallis tests were performed to compare the different groups. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was used to assess the association among knowledgeuattitude, knowledgeupractice, and attitudeupractice. Results: Overall, the mean scores of oral health knowledge, attitude, and self-care practices were found to be 5.27 1.05, 3.89 0.83, and 2.1 0.61, respectively. Male non-Saudi pharmacists working in chain pharmacies, having 11u15 years of experience with a Master's degree qualification showed significantly higher mean knowledge and practices scores as compared to their counterparts. Spearman's correlation tests revealed a significant positive correlation of knowledgeupractice (r = 0.262, P < 0.01), whereas knowledgeuattitude (r = -0.149, P < 0.05) as well as attitudesupractices (r = -0.196, P < 0.01) were negatively correlated. Conclusion: Pharmacists exhibited an average knowledge, negative attitude, and inadequate self-care practices toward oral health. However, increasing oral health knowledge can have profound improvement in oral self-care practices.