Factors Associated with Oral Health Care Behaviors of High school Students, Sakaeo province

Abstract

This descriptive study is aimed to study oral health care behaviors and the relationship among knowledge, belief, attitude, and oral health care behavior of high school students in Sakaeo Province. The sample group included 90 high school students. Questionnaires were used as a data collection toolม and data were analyzed by percentage, mean, standard deviation. The correlation was analyzed by chi-square test.  

          The results showed that most of samples were female (53.56%) with an average age of 16.47 years. Most of them studied in Grade 4 (43.53%) and lived with parents/guardians (79.42%). Most of their parents were farmers (34.30%), and the average family income per month was 10,432.89 baht. All of the samples had dental caries. 41.69% of the samples had a high level of knowledge about oral health care.53.03% of the samples had a moderate level of belief in oral health care. 72.04 had a high level of attitude in oral health care, and 47.76% had a moderate level in oral health care behavior. In terms of relationship, it was found that knowledge and attitude about oral health care were correlated with oral health care behaviors at a statistical significance (p-value = 0.035 and 0.024 respectively).

          High school students had good knowledge and attitude of oral health care. Therefore, students should be encouraged to participate in activities that promote their understanding of oral health care methods for the prevention of oral health problems.