Factors associated with oral health care behaviors of pre-school children's parents in child development center, Phawong Sub-district, Muang District, Songkhla Province

Abstract

          The purposes of this cross-sectional descriptive study were to 1) investigate the level of oral health care behaviorsof preschool children's parentsand 2) identify factors associated with oral health care behavior of preschool children's parents. The samples were 142 parents of preschool children studying in preschool development centers in Phawong Sub-district, Muang District, Songkhla Province, in the academic year 2021. Data were collected using the questionnaires in December 2021. The questionnaires consisted of knowledge, attitude, perception, receiving oral health care information for children, and oral health care behaviors of preschool children. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by three experts, which obtained the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was 0.74 0.73 0.83 0.89 and 0.83, respectively. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression analysis.

          Results found that the knowledge of oral health care behavior among parents was at a moderate level (Mean ± S.D. = 2.31 ± 0.32, 63.4%). It found that parents aged greater than or equal to 35 years had 4.79 times of preschool children's oral health care behavior when compare with parents aged greater than or equal to 34 years. (OR_adj. = 4.79, 95% CI: 1.73-13.25). Parents who had low receiving health information were 95.0 percent less likely to have preschool children's oral health care behavior (OR_adj. = 0.05, 95% CI: 0.02-0.13) when compare with parents who had high receiving health. The findings indicated that dental health professionals should focus on increasing parental awareness of oral health care for preschool children by promoting the utilization of the on line media platforms to access the oral health care content and receive appropriate information.