Doshi Dolar, Reddy B Srikanth, Kulkarni Suhas, Karunakar P
Oral Health Prev Dent. 2014;12(2):125-31. doi: 10.3290/j.ohpd.a31673.
To investigate the attitudes and beliefs towards oral health care based on gender, age and educational levels of a cross section of a South Indian population in Hyderabad city.
The study comprised a convenience sample of the general population of Kamalanagar area, Kothapet ward, Hyderabad city, Andhra Pradesh. The questionnaire consisted of close-ended questions and was divided into three sections to gather the demographic details, self-reported attitudes (A1-A9) and beliefs (B1-B16) about dentistry. For all these questions, a 'yes' response denoted a negative/unfavourable attitude/belief and 'no' response a positive/favourable attitude/belief towards dentistry.
The mean age of the respondents was 33.21 ± 13.39 years with the majority possessing a university degree (672; 60%). Based on the age groups, statistically significant differences were noted for preferring to go to a traditional healer first (A1) (P = 0.01) and with regard to the cleanliness of dental clinics (A9) (P = 0.003). Likewise, education also influenced the attitudes of the respondents, where the more well-educated respondents significantly more often answered 'no' to the items 'dental visit only when in pain' (A2) (P = 0.001) and 'visit only with family, friends and neighbours' (A3) (P = 0.02) and concerning cleanliness of the dental clinics (A9) (P = 0.05). Statistically significant differences was documented for most of the questions according to educational levels except for 'dental treatment is very expensive' (B4), 'tooth lost anyhow' (B6) and 'regular dental check-up not required' (B14). The overall comparison of attitude scores revealed no significant difference for the variables. Nevertheless, educational level showed significant differences for belief score with a higher mean score for university graduates (9.82 ± 3.36) (P = 0.001).
Within the limits of the study, it can be concluded that a higher educational level led to a significantly more positive response to dentistry as compared to gender and age groups. In addition, the influence of traditional, social and cultural factors on dental care among this population cannot be ruled out.
基于印度海得拉巴市一部分南印度人群的性别、年龄和教育水平，调查其对口腔卫生保健的态度和信念。
本研究采用便利抽样法，选取了安得拉邦海得拉巴市科塔佩特区卡马勒纳加尔地区的普通人群。问卷由封闭式问题组成，分为三个部分，以收集人口统计学细节、自我报告的对牙科的态度（A1 - A9）和信念（B1 - B16）。对于所有这些问题，“是”的回答表示对牙科的消极/不利态度/信念，“否”的回答表示对牙科的积极/有利态度/信念。
受访者的平均年龄为33.21 ± 13.39岁，大多数人拥有大学学位（672人；60%）。基于年龄组，在是否更倾向于先去找传统治疗师（A1）（P = 0.01）以及对牙科诊所清洁程度的看法（A9）（P = 0.003）方面，存在统计学上的显著差异。同样，教育程度也影响了受访者的态度，受教育程度较高的受访者对“只有疼痛时才看牙”（A2）（P = 0.001）、“只和家人、朋友及邻居一起看牙”（A3）（P = 0.02）以及牙科诊所清洁程度（A9）（P = 0.05）这些问题，显著更频繁地回答“否”。根据教育程度，除了“牙科治疗非常昂贵”（B4）、“牙齿反正会掉”（B6）和“不需要定期进行牙科检查”（B14）外，大多数问题都存在统计学上的显著差异。态度得分的总体比较显示，各变量之间没有显著差异。然而，教育程度在信念得分方面存在显著差异，大学毕业生的平均得分更高（9.82 ± 3.36）（P = 0.001）。
在本研究的范围内，可以得出结论，与性别和年龄组相比，较高的教育水平导致对牙科有显著更积极的反应。此外，不能排除传统、社会和文化因素对该人群牙科护理的影响。
