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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · European Journal of General Dentistry 2018; 7(01): 7-13
DOI: 10.4103/ejgd.ejgd_85_17
Original Article

Self-reported differences in oral health attitudes and behaviors of health-care students at a University in Malaysia

Jia Ven Ng
Department of Oral Diagnosis, School of Dental Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia
,
Tahir Yusuf Noorani
1   Department of Conservative Dentistry, Conservative Dentistry Unit, School of Dental Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia
,
Nik Rozainah Nik Abdul Ghani
1   Department of Conservative Dentistry, Conservative Dentistry Unit, School of Dental Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia
,
Imran Alam Moheet
Department of Oral Diagnosis, School of Dental Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia
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Abstract

Background: Oral health is a vital part of general health. An individual’s perception on oral health is reflected by their oral health attitudes and behaviors. Aim: To determine and compare the oral health attitudes and behaviors of dental, medical, and nursing students at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Methods: A modified version of Hiroshima University– Dental Behavioural Inventory (HU-DBI)-based questionnaire consisting of 20 items was distributed to all health-care students (n = 1166) of USM. HU-DBI score was calculated using responses to 12 HU-DBI items in the questionnaire. HU-DBI scores of the three groups were compared using one-way ANOVA complemented by Bonferroni test. Scores among preclinical and clinical levels were compared using independent t-test. Chi-square test was used to evaluate the differences in distribution of all items in the HU-DBI survey. Results: Dental students had the highest mean HU-DBI score (7.79 ± 1.58), followed by their nursing (6.99 ± 1.46) and medical (6.42 ± 1.58) counterparts. The mean HU-DBI score for all clinical students (7.04 ± 1.75) was significantly higher than those in their preclinical years (6.64 ± 1.56). Among the 12 HU-DBI items that were used to calculate the HU-DBI scores, items 2, 6, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16 and 19 show significant difference between the distributions of responses within the 3 groups (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Dental students demonstrated better oral health attitudes. However, all our future health-care provider needs to have better attitudes toward oral health. Hence, comprehensive oral health awareness programs need to be incorporated to all health-care students throughout their study programs.

Keywords

Dental students - Hiroshima University Dental Behavioural Inventory - medical students - nursing students - oral health behavior

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.




Publication History

Article published online:
01 November 2021

© 2018. European Journal of General Dentistry. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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