Oral health behavior among school children aged 11–13 years in Saveh, Iran: an evaluation of a theory-driven intervention

Abstract

Background Good oral health (OH) is essential for physical, social, mental health, and overall quality of life. This study assessed the usefulness of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) in changing oral health-related behaviors among school children aged 11–13 years in Saveh, Iran. Methods In this descriptive before and after study, participants were sixth-grade students at single sex primary schools in Saveh city, Iran. We recruited 356 school children in 2019. Using simple random sampling, a male and a female school per district were allocated to the experimental group and the remaining schools to the control group. Our planned oral health education consisted of four one-hour training sessions over 1 week. The first session familiarized the participants with important information about OH. In the second session, we applied a brain storming exercise to identify the benefits and barriers to flossing and brushing. In the third session, a short film about correct brushing and dental flossing technique was shown and research team also used role-playing to correct any mistakes. In the final session students were taught about the importance and the application of OH planning and given forms to help plan for brushing. Results Participants for the study included 356 students (180 in the experimental group and 176 in the control group) who completed the post-test questionnaire. The mean age ± standard deviation was 11.55 years ±0.93 in the experimental group and 11.58 years ±1.01 in the control group. After the intervention, the paired t-test indicated a significant difference between the mean and standard deviation of the action plan and coping plan constructs in the experimental group before and after the intervention (p < 0.05). Covariance analysis indicated a significant difference between scores of intervention and control groups under statistical control of post-test in two groups (covariate) after a peer-led education program (post-test) (p < 0.05). Conclusion A shortage of professional health workers in education settings together with the ease, usefulness and low-cost of this peer-led method, suggest further steps should be taken to implement it more widely to improve and enhance primary school aged students’ oral health behavior.

Does Spiritual Health Contribute To The Oral Health Behaviors in Adolescents?

“…Twice per day toothbrushing was rare among the adolescents in this study (< 20%) despite clear evidence regarding its effectiveness for management of dental caries (Kumar et al, 2016). This gure is, however, comparable to the ndings of other studies on adolescents in Iran; about 20% in a group of adolescents in Isfahan(Asgari & Amiri, 2019) and Saveh (Karimy et al, 2020).…”

The Association of Oral Health Status and socio‐economic determinants with Oral Health‐Related Quality of Life among the elderly: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…Oral health is an important factor for general health 14 with previous research reporting that poor health contributes negatively to oral health and ultimately shapes OHRQoL 5,15‐17 . There is sufficient evidence showing that dental problems are more prevalent in the older people 13,18 .…”

The role of correlated factors based on Pender health promotion model in brushing behavior in the 13–16 years old students of Guilan, Iran

“…In deep carious lesions, the risk of pulp involvement and abscesses increases, which usually causes swelling and discomfort when chewing. Candida, osteomyelitis, or sepsis due to dental infection leading to hospitalization have been reported in countries with poor access to dental services [1,3].…”

“…Emphasizing adolescents' responsibilities without any coercion can help them accept their new role [8]. Identifying the effective factors on oral health behaviors in students and as a result of this, designing appropriate educational interventions, is necessary to improve these behaviors [3].Previous studies found that pay attention to prevention and oral health in students is a key strategy to promote oral health in society, and the first step in prevention and oral health of students is to identify the determinants of their behavior [8,9].…”