Factors related to oral health care behavior of lower secondary school students in Phra Nakhon District Bangkok Metropolis

Abstract

In this research, the researcher studied (1) oral health care behaviors; (2) the factors related to oral health care behavior and (3) a prediction equation for oral health care behaviors. The sample population consisted of 933 secondary school students in Phra Nakhon district, Bangkok Metropolis. The research instruments consisted of a questionnaire and a test. The statistics used for data analysis were frequency, percentage, mean, maximum-minimum, standard deviation, multiple regression analysis (MRA) with Enter for analysis of the overall relationship and Stepwise for prediction equation. Findings were as follows: 1) Food consumption behaviors exhibited a mean score of 23.85 from the full score of 44 (54.20 percent) with the standard deviation of 4.55. The mean score of attitudes towards oral health care was 63.82 from the full score of 85 (63.82 percent) with the standard deviation of 5.57. The mean score of the parents’ roles in oral health promotion was 39.14 from the full score of 60 (65.23 percent) with the standard deviation of 11.84. The mean score of oral health care knowledge was 10.44 from the full score of 16 (65.25 percent) with the standard deviation of 2.74. The mean score of oral health care behaviors was 25.79 from the full score of 44 (58.61 percent) with the standard deviation of 5.52. 2) The study of factors related to oral health care behaviors found the following. 2.1) The correlation coefficient (R) between a dependent variable of oral health care behaviors and the independent variables of gender, age, daily allowances, food consumption behaviors, attitudes toward oral health care, the parents’ roles in oral health promotion, and oral health care knowledge was .707. The independent variables could explain the variance from the dependent variables (R²) at 49.9 percent. 2.2) Food consumption behaviors, attitudes toward oral health care, the parents’ roles in oral health promotion, and oral health care knowledge correlated with oral health care behaviors at the statistically significant level of .05. 2.3) The independent variables related to oral health care behaviors at the highest level was the parents’ roles in oral health promotion (β = 0.553). Next in descending order were food consumption behaviors (β = 0.179); attitudes toward oral health care (β = 0.175); and oral health care knowledge (β = 0.058).
3) The relationship could be written as a prediction equation as follows:

            Ŷ = 1.189 + 0.260 the parents’ roles in oral health promotion + 0.221 food consumption behaviors + 0.164 attitudes toward oral health care – 0.125 oral health care knowledge