Explorative study of the motives for non‐utilization of the Danish Youth Dental Care Scheme

Abstract

The present study attempted to develop an explanatory model for the lack of preventive dental behavior as demonstrated by the non-utilization of the Danish Youth Dental Care Scheme (YDCS). A focused interview was conducted with young, working class men by two carefully trained and experienced interviewers. Analysis of the interviews showed that no single factor could explain non-utilization of the YDCS. Rather a complex of factors partly on the individual social-psychologic, psychologic and economic level and partly on the social level, operating directly and indirectly with varying strength, needs to be considered. A new explanatory model for preventive dental behavior is developed and discussed in the light of recent theories on health behavior.

Utilization of alternative delivery programs in youth dental care in Denmark

“…If a visit was made, it would then be up to the dentist to motivate the young adult to continue in the program and the young adult would automatically be registered as user. The higher utilization rate of women compared to men in the Private as well as in the Mixed group is in accordance with numerous other studies, whereas the lack of association with social background was unusual (1,8,9,18), It seems probable on the basis of the results for both the Mixed and the Private groups that family background and personal behavioral factors such as attitudes to and knowledge about dental care come into force in deciding who will utilize the dental services regularly, as pointed out by ANTOFT (1,2). These factors might become of less significance when the dental service is organized under conditions as described for the Public group.…”

“…Frequencies of regular. 'irregular users and dropouts/non-users respectively are given in Table 3, Logistic regression analysis of the frequency of use in the Mixed and the Private groups showed that both delivery program (P = 0,00) and sex {P = 0,00) had significant effect, whereas there was significant association neither between social background and utilization (P = 0,26) nor between self-assessment of teeth and utilization (P = 0,14), Odds ratios for utilization between the Private and the Mixed groups were: ORpnvait M. j Ki = 2,04 with estimated approximative 95%i confidence limits (1,32,3,16), After correction for delivery program, women had a higher probability of being regular or irregular users than men, ORw™., M™ = 3.43 (2,22,5,28),…”

“…In a society with a well organized PCDHS for children and an equally well organized private dental service for adults, an effective Young Adult Dental Program may be the link that will provide the continuity of dental care and create a basis for voluntary and regular use of dental services. The emphasis of this study was on organizational aspects of the YADP, This angle was chosen to evaluate whether system factors might account for the distinct drop in utilization that has been observed repeatedly when children finished their participation in the outreaching PCDHS, typically attached to the school system, and continued in the demand-based private dental care (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9). The assumption was that continuity in dental service at the young adult stage is important for dental health in the long run.…”

“…At the end of the 197O's this program featured free dental examinations and a subsidy of 75% of the expenses related to most preventive and curative dental services in private dental practice. The regional NHI office was responsible for sending out reminders every 6 months to those enrolled in the program, A number of cross-sectional utilization studies have demonstrated that only 60-80% of the eligible young adult population participate in the program on a regular basis with a number of social and demographic variables influencing the utilization pattern (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9),…”

Dental health knowledge of Chinese kindergarten teachers

“…Such time period would probably not be long enough to demonstrate any change in habits. However, it could also be an example of the lack of evidence of the links between knowledge and change in behaviour, as appropriate knowledge does not necessary guarantee desired behaviour (Douglass and Cole 1979, Antoft 1983, Petersen and N ortov 1994. This kind of information is not yet available from an adult Chinese population due to the lack of traditions concerning public health questionnaire surveys which are commonplace in Western countries.…”