Prediction of Oral Health in Children 3-6 Years old in Ilam, 2015: Application of Health Belief Model

Children are the most vulnerable individuals in society and oral disease is one of the most common human diseases, especially among this group. The role of oral health behavior is very important in the prevention of diseases; it is, therefore, a top priority for the Ministry of Health and World Health Organization. This study aimed to predict the factors affecting oral health status based on Health Belief Model.
This cross-sectional study included 100 children of 3-6 years age from urban health centers. The data were collected by a researcher made HBM questionnaire. Some of oral health behaviors were surveyed through interviews with mothers and then children's oral examinations were carried out. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16 software at the significant level of 0.05.
Findings: Most of children's mothers participating in the study (96 %) were housewives. Almost half of fathers (48 %) had high school educations. Self-efficacy, cues to action, perceived threat and perceived benefits were significant predictors for oral health behaviors and totally accounted for 33 % of the variance in behavior. In terms of importance in the regression model, self-efficacy was the strongest variable and perceived benefits were the weakest one.
Discussion & The findings showed that self-efficacy is the most important variable to strengthening oral health so; it is suggested to promote self-efficacy for promoting oral health status.