Factors Predicting Oral Health Care Behaviors of Parents' Preschool Children in Child Development Centers, Krongpinang District, Yala Province

Abstract

This cross-sectional analytical study aimed to examine oral health care behavior and factors predicting oral health care behaviors of parents’ preschool children in child development centers, Krongpinang district, Yala province. The samples were 225 parents’ preschool children that selected by using multistage sampling. Questionnaires was a tool of data collection in this research that conducted and analyzed by using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis.

The results revealed that oral health care behavior was at moderate level (80.00%) and personal factors, predisposing factors, enabling factors and reinforcing factors could jointly predicted oral health care behaviors of parents’ preschool children 56.90% (R²= .569 p < .001). Knowledge of taking care of children's oral health, attitude towards children's oral health care, perceived barrier to prevent oral health problems in children, perceived self-efficacy in caring for children's oral health, access oral care services, received support from family friends or community were factors that could significantly predict oral health care behaviors of parents’ preschool children which had prediction coefficients of -0.116, 0.151, 0.106, 0.184, 0.261, 0.278, (p< .05) respectively

These research outcome could suggest that the relevant agencies should be providing proactive services, developing appropriate models for oral health promotion activities, providing the learning process to promote parents’ perceived self-efficacy for oral health care and preventive oral health problem to reduce perceived barriers of preventing oral health problems in children parents' involvement in behavior modification plan for their children.