Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Caregivers in Relation To Oral Health of Preschool Children
Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Caregivers in Relation To Oral Health of Preschool Children
Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Caregivers in Relation To Oral Health of Preschool Children
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their child’s teeth brushed by a parent (p = 0.040). On the strongly correlated with the practices and confirmed the
other hand, the caregivers of younger children (0–1 years) findings of earlier studies [3, 6, 17–20]. Knowledge, how-
were more likely to take their children to the dentist be- ever, was weakly correlated with practice, confirming
fore the age of 3 (p = 0.000). earlier findings, which suggested that changing health-
related behaviors takes more than just improving knowl-
Factors Associated with Good Practices edge [7, 12, 22]. Social, economic and environmental fac-
Education, attitude and knowledge were positively tors play a substantial role in shaping people’s behavior
and significantly related to the practices of the caregiv- and translating this knowledge into positive health choic-
ers regarding the oral health of preschool children es and practices [7]. In addition, the results of this study
[F(4, 329) = 12.68, p = 0.001, R 2 = 0.134]. Having a univer- highlighted some general trends that were not always sta-
sity degree or higher ( = 0.21, p = 0.002) and having a tistically significant but yet are worth noting. The first
positive attitude ( = 0.21, p ! 0.001) had the strongest was a general weakness in the knowledge, attitude and
association with good practice, followed by having a high practice in infant oral health-related areas such as the
school degree as the highest educational level ( = 0.19, timing for the first dental visit, the ideal timing to initiate
p = 0.005). Knowledge, however, had the weakest associa- tooth brushing for children, as well as nighttime bottle
tion with practice compared to the predictors mentioned feeding. Better infant oral health-related trends, however,
above ( = 0.15, p = 0.007). were observed with younger caregivers and caregivers of
children under 1 year. This is possibly due to higher edu-
cational levels among the younger group. Additionally,
Discussion younger parents have generally better computer/internet
literacy and would therefore have wider access to a variety
This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes of oral health-related knowledge. The second observed
and practices in relation to the oral health of preschool trend was that mothers, compared to other caregivers,
children among caregivers in Kuwait. The study results were generally more knowledgeable, had better attitude,
showed that the education and attitude of the caregivers but did not necessarily have better practices. This may be