Factors Associated with Health Literacy, Self-Efficacy, Social Support, and Oral Health Care Behaviors Among Elderly in Northern Border Community Thailand

Abstract

Background: Oral health problems among elderly people are an important public health issues worldwide. Oral healthcare is essential to the health and well-being of elders and is one of the key indicators determining their quality of life. This research aimed to study oral health literacy, selfefficacy, social support, and demographic characteristic factors associated with the oral health care behaviors of elderly people living in the rural areas of northern Thailand. Methods: This research was a cross-sectional study that recruited 406 elderly participants using convenience and snowball samplings. Participants' names were obtained from the registration list of the Java Health Center Information System (JHCIS) program, where they received a health service between 2018 and 2020. Data were obtained through face-to-face interviews with participants, while they were waiting to receive a health service or through a phone interview. Linear regression was analyzed to determine the factors associated with oral healthcare behaviors. Results: The majority of participants (85%) had inadequate functional health literacy, 52% had moderate self-efficacy toward oral health behaviors, 91.9% had moderate social support, and 53% admitted to moderate oral health behaviors. The results from the model show that self-efficacy, social support, and oral health literacy are positively associated with oral health care behaviors among the elderly (p-value < 0.05). The multiple regression model can account for 47.2% of the variance in oral health care behaviors. Conclusion: Improving oral health care behaviors among elderly people should be considered by health care providers and those who provide social support. Self-esteem, communication skills among service providers and service receivers, and self-management of oral healthcare should receive special attention. Moreover, social support and relevant agencies can help promote oral healthcare by collaborating with other healthcare providers for better oral health outcomes among elderly people.

Oral health literacy, oral health behavior, and oral health status among dental patients and associated factors

“…Moreover, there is a great imbalance in the distribution of dental practitioners among the provinces in China, neither the number of dental practitioners nor the number of dental visits is enough to meet the dental care demand in China as compared to developed countries [23]. There are also some personal factors, such as personal characteristics, health needs, and health behaviors [9,11].…”

“…A study in Iran showed that 62.5% of adult patients had an adequate oral health literacy level [9]. However, a survey of older adults in Thailand showed the majority of participants (85%) had inadequate functional health literacy, [11]. Previous studies show that people with limited OHL levels had poor periodontal health [12].…”

Factors associated with oral health care behavior of people with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A hospital-based, cross-sectional study

“…Oral healthcare behavior includes personal oral behavior, food consumption behavior, and medical care behavior [ 10 ]. Sociodemographic factors associated with oral healthcare behavior are age, sex, and educational level [ 11 ].…”

Effects of social support on oral health behavior: Serial multiple‐mediator model

“…Whereas policy strategies to promote OHB in the adult population have traditionally been through encouraging brushing and flossing practices at the individual level, a growing number of studies begin to explore the more distal and structural determinants of OHB (Vasiliou et al, 2016). The role of psychosocial factors in promoting OHB draws more interest from researchers, such as oral health beliefs (Im et al, 2015), job stress (Ghulam et al, 2018), social support (Khamrin et al, 2021) and perceived behavioral control (PBC) (Brein et al, 2016). Social support as a way to promote OHB received a lot of attention as it is easy to provide.…”