scholarly journals Influence of Parental Health Literacy on Change over Time in the Oral Health of American Indian Children

Author(s):  
Angela G. Brega ◽  
Rachel L. Johnson ◽  
Luohua Jiang ◽  
Anne R. Wilson ◽  
Sarah J. Schmiege ◽  
...  

In cross-sectional studies, parental health literacy (HL) is associated with children’s oral health. It is unclear, however, whether HL influences pediatric outcomes. We examined the relationship of HL with change over time in parental oral health knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors, as well as pediatric oral health outcomes. We used longitudinal data from a study designed to reduce dental decay in American Indian children (N = 579). At baseline and annually for three years, parents answered questions assessing HL; oral health knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors; and pediatric oral health status. The number of decayed, missing, and filled tooth surfaces (dmfs) was computed based on annual dental evaluations. Linear mixed models showed that HL was significantly associated with all constructs, except dmfs, at their reference time points and persistently across the three-year study period. HL predicted change over time in only one variable, parents’ belief that children’s oral health is determined by chance or luck. HL is strongly associated with oral health knowledge, beliefs, behaviors, and status prospectively but is not a key driver of change over time in these oral health constructs.

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 598-608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela G. Brega ◽  
Luohua Jiang ◽  
Rachel L. Johnson ◽  
Anne R. Wilson ◽  
Sarah J. Schmiege ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Anne R. Wilson ◽  
Rachel L. Johnson ◽  
Judith Albino ◽  
Luohua Jiang ◽  
Sarah J. Schmiege ◽  
...  

Objectives: To examine the relationship between ethnic identity and oral health knowledge, beliefs, behavior, and outcomes in American Indian families. Methods: Secondary data were analyzed for 579 parent–child dyads in a randomized controlled trial aimed at reducing early childhood caries in a Northern Plains tribal community. Data included demographic characteristics; parental ethnic identity; oral health knowledge, beliefs, and behavior; and parental/pediatric oral health outcomes. Ethnic identity was assessed using two measures: perceived importance of tribal identity and tribal language proficiency. We examined the association of baseline ethnic identity with baseline and longitudinal oral health measures. Results: At baseline, importance of tribal identity was significantly associated with several oral health beliefs, and one’s locus of control measure (external-chance). Baseline scores on importance of tribal identity were also associated with one’s oral heath belief (perceived severity), the same locus of control measure, and oral health knowledge and behavior over the three years of study follow up. Tribal language proficiency was not associated with any study measures at baseline, although it was associated with parental oral health status over the three years. Conclusions: Ethnic identity was associated with a range of oral health constructs expected to influence American Indian children’s oral health.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Sun ◽  
Jing Sun ◽  
Yan Zhao ◽  
Aixiao Cheng ◽  
Junhong Zhou

Abstract Background: It has been widely accepted that oral health status is related to oral health literacy. The need to measure oral health literacy has led to the development of measurement instruments. This study aimed to develop a comprehensive instrument for adults and to examine its reliability and validity in China.Methods: A three-step design process was used. First, a literature review and expert panel discussion were used to draw up a 37-item pool covering oral health knowledge, belief, practice, skill and functional oral health literacy. The Delphi method was used to delete and modify questions in the item pool. The draft instrument was evaluated by nine experts and the consensus among them was calculated using the content validity index. The scale was then used to conduct a psychometric study among 370 participants from community health centers in Beijing. Construct validity, discriminant validity and concurrent validity were examined. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, and test–retest methods were used to assess reliability.Results: The final scale included 30 items in four dimensions. The item–level content validity index was 0.90. Exploratory factor analysis extracted four fixed factors, and the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin and Bartlett’s tests came to 0.752, with the model explaining 35.21% of the total variance. The four dimensions were associated with oral health knowledge, perceptions of oral health issues, oral health practice and skills, and functional oral health literacy. The mean score of the lowest 27% was significantly lower than the highest 27% (p < 0.01), suggesting adequate discriminant validity. The associations between comprehensive oral health literacy scores and educational level, income and self-reported literacy level were significant (P < 0.001), showing adequate overall concurrent validity. Internal consistency and test–retest reliability were acceptable, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.72 and a total test–retest reliability coefficient of 0.979. Conclusions: Initial testing of the comprehensive oral health literacy instrument suggested that it is a valid and reliable instrument to evaluate individuals’ oral health literacy, with four dimensions for evaluating knowledge, belief, skill and functional oral health literacy.


2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Syarifah Haizan Sayed Kamar ◽  
Noor Inani Jelani ◽  
Noraini Mohamad Nor

Introduction: Mothers play important roles in their children's oral health. The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between mothers’ sociodemographic backgrounds and their oral health knowledge, attitude and practice of their preschool children. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 149 mothers of 4 to 6-year-old preschool children from selected kindergartens. Stratified cluster sampling was done to select kindergartens from urban and suburban areas in Kuantan, Pahang. Knowledge and attitude of mothers were assessed using selfadministered questionnaires and children's oral health practice was recorded using three days tooth brushing diary. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16.0. Results: Mothers had high oral health knowledge (Mean score 73.6%, SD 1.3%) and attitude (Mean score 73.2%, SD 2.4%) scores. Significant relationships were reported between mothers' oral health knowledge and age (p=0.037), educational status (p0.05). Conclusion(s): Lack of further education, low household income and living further away from the city contributed to low oral health knowledge and poor oral health attitude among mothers, towards their preschool children. Younger mothers had lower oral health knowledge, whereas older mothers had poorer oral health attitude.


Scientifica ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ankita Mota ◽  
Kunal C. Oswal ◽  
Dipti A. Sajnani ◽  
Anand K. Sajnani

Background. School teachers have an internationally recognized potential role in school-based dental education and considerable importance has therefore been attributed to their dental knowledge. The objectives of this study were to determine the oral health related knowledge, attitudes, and approaches of pre-primary and primary school teachers in the city of Mumbai.Methods. The descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the suburban regions of Mumbai using a self-administered questionnaire and involved 511 teachers.Results. Teachers demonstrated inappropriate or incomplete knowledge regarding children’s oral health. Only 53.2% knew that an individual has two sets of dentition. Moreover, only 45.4% of the teachers knew that a primary dentition consists of 20 teeth. Only 56.9% of the teachers asked their children to clean their mouth after snacking during school hours. 45.0% of the teachers were unaware of fluoridated tooth pastes whilst 78.9% of them were unaware of school water fluoridation programmes. Also, 54.8% of the teachers never discussed the oral health of children with their parents during parents meet.Conclusions. The studied school teachers demonstrated incomplete oral health knowledge, inappropriate oral practices, and unfavourable approaches to children’s oral health. There is a definite and immediate need for organized training of school teachers on basic oral health knowledge.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Sun ◽  
Jing Sun ◽  
Yan Zhao ◽  
Aixiao Cheng ◽  
Junhong Zhou

Abstract Background It has been widely accepted that oral health status is related to oral health literacy. The need to measure oral health literacy has led to the development of measurement instruments. This study aimed to develop a comprehensive instrument for adults and to examine its reliability and validity in China. Methods A three-step design process was used. First, a literature review and expert panel discussion were used to draw up a 37-item pool covering oral health knowledge, belief, practice, skill, and functional oral health literacy. The Delphi method was used to delete and modify questions in the item pool. The draft instrument was evaluated by nine experts and the consensus among them was calculated using the content validity index. The scale was then used to conduct a psychometric study among 370 participants from community health centers in Beijing. Construct validity, discriminant validity and concurrent validity were examined. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, and test–retest methods were used to assess reliability. Results The final scale included 30 items across four dimensions. The item–level content validity index was 0.90. Exploratory factor analysis extracted four fixed factors, and the result of the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin and Bartlett’s tests was 0.752, with the model explaining 35.21% of the total variance. The four dimensions were associated with oral health knowledge, perceptions of oral health issues, oral health practice and skills, and functional oral health literacy. The mean score of the lowest 27% was significantly lower than the highest 27% (P < 0.01), suggesting adequate discriminant validity. The associations between comprehensive oral health literacy scores and educational level, income and self-reported literacy level were significant (P < 0.001), showing adequate overall concurrent validity. Internal consistency and test–retest reliability were acceptable, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.72 and a total test–retest reliability coefficient of 0.979. Conclusions Initial testing of the comprehensive oral health literacy instrument suggested that it is a valid and reliable instrument to evaluate individuals’ oral health literacy, with four dimensions for evaluating knowledge, belief, skills, and functional oral health literacy.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liangwen Chen ◽  
Jialan Hong ◽  
Dian Xiong ◽  
Luyi Zhang ◽  
Yuhong Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Children aged 6-7 years are in the early mixed dentition, which is a period of high prevalence of dental caries and other dental diseases and a critical period for the formation of oral health behaviors. Therefore, good oral hygiene habits of children and oral health knowledge of parents are very important. This study sought to explore the relationship between children’s oral health behaviors, parental oral health knowledge, parental choices of pit and fissure sealants, and parents’ education levels based on a large-scale sample size for the first time, and to compare the influences of parental education levels between parents.Methods: Families of the first and second graders of primary schools in Wuhan Hongshan District were included in this study. A total of 8446 questionnaires were collected to obtain comprehensive information on children’s oral health behaviors, parents’ oral health knowledge and parents’ pit and fissure sealants-related choices. The relationship between these and parents’ education levels were studied using logistic regression analysis and chi-square test.Results: Parents who reported good educational background had more favorable oral health knowledge than those of other parents, and their children had better oral hygiene behaviors. Four indicators of five measures to children’s oral health behaviors were significantly associated with mother’s education level, and three of them were related to father’s education level. Moreover, seven indicators of eight measures to parents’ oral health knowledge were significantly related to mother’s education level and four of them were affected by the father’s. In addition, parents with higher educational attainments paid more attention to the completeness of medical facilities, the environment of dental practice, the distance to treatment sites, and took less concern of children’s willingness when choosing the pit and fissure sealants sites.Conclusions: In families with children at the early mixed dentition stage, parents with higher education levels tend to have better oral health knowledge and more oral health care needs, such as pit and fissure sealants. In addition, children of parents who have better educated parents tend to perform better oral hygiene practices.


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