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Open Access Preventive Dental Behaviors among U. S. College Students: Application of the Health Belief Model

This article is Open Access under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND licence.

Objectives: Evaluate college students' preventive dental behaviors based on the Health Belief Model (HBM), identify key constructs of HBM to promote preventive dental behaviors, and determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on college students' preventive dental behaviors. Methods: The data for this cross- sectional study were collected from 550 college students (ages 18 to 25; 69.8% female) through an online survey. Participants were recruited through a random sampling process. Descriptive statistics were used in the analysis of quantitative data. A multivariate analysis of variance was applied to examine the relationship between HBM and preventive dental behaviors. In addition, chi-square was used to determine the prevalence of preventive dental behaviors associated with dental knowledge. Results: Perceived barriers and self- efficacy were significant predictors of preventive dental behaviors ( p < 0.001). Also, a significantly higher proportion of students with sufficient dental knowledge met the recommendations for tooth brushing and dental checkups compared to those with deficient or moderate dental knowledge ( p < 0.05). Although most of the participants reported no influence of COVID-19 on their preventive dental behaviors, a considerable number of the students still reported the influences of COVID-19 (tooth brushing: 20.9%; tooth flossing: 10.6%; dental checkups: 18.8%). Conclusions: The Health Belief Model could be an effective framework to promote preventive dental behaviors for college students, particularly, using perceived barriers and self-efficacy.

Keywords: COVID-19; DENTAL KNOWLEDGE; HEALTH BELIEF MODEL; ORAL HEALTH

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: 1: Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA 2: Postdoctoral Research Associate, College of Sport Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea 3: School of Community Health Sciences, Counseling and Counseling Psychology, College of Education and Human Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA 4: School of Community Health Sciences, Counseling and Counseling Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA

Publication date: December 1, 2023

This article was made available online on December 31, 2023 as a Fast Track article with title: "Preventive Dental Behaviors among U.S. College Students: Application of the Health Belief Model".

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  • The American Journal of Health Behavior seeks to improve the quality of life through multidisciplinary health efforts in fostering a better understanding of the multidimensional nature of both individuals and social systems as they relate to health behaviors.

    The Journal aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the impact of personal attributes, personality characteristics, behavior patterns, social structure, and processes on health maintenance, health restoration, and health improvement; to disseminate knowledge of holistic, multidisciplinary approaches to designing and implementing effective health programs; and to showcase health behavior analysis skills that have been proven to affect health improvement and recovery.

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