School of Applied Psychology, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Health Psychology and Behavioural Medicine Research Group, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
Br J Health Psychol. 2018 May;23(2):387-406. doi: 10.1111/bjhp.12294. Epub 2018 Jan 18.
With 60-90% of children worldwide reportedly experiencing dental caries, poor oral health in the younger years is a major public health issue. As parents are important to children's oral hygiene practices, we examined the key self-regulatory behaviours of parents for supervising their children's toothbrushing using the health action process approach.
Participants (N = 281, 197 mothers) comprised Australian parents of 2- to 5-year-olds. A longitudinal design was used to investigate the sequential mediation chain for the effect of intention (Time 1) on parental supervision for their youngest child's toothbrushing (Time 3), via self-efficacy and planning (Time 2), and action control (Time 3).
A latent-variable structural equation model, controlling for baseline behaviour and habit, revealed significant indirect effects from intention via self-efficacy and action control and intention via planning and action control, on parental supervision behaviour. The model was a good fit to the data, explaining 74% of the variance in parents' supervising behaviour for their children's toothbrushing.
While national recommendations are provided to guide parents in promoting good oral hygiene practices with their children, current results show the importance of going beyond simple knowledge transmission to support parents' intentions to supervise their children's toothbrushing actually materialize. Current findings make a significant contribution to the cumulative empirical evidence regarding self-regulatory components in health behaviour change and can inform intervention development to increase parents' participation in childhood oral hygiene practices, thus helping to curb rising oral health conditions and diseases. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Self-regulatory skills are important to translate intentions into behaviour. Self-efficacy, planning, and action control are key self-regulatory skills for behaviour change. What does this study add? Self-regulatory skills are needed for parents to supervise their children's toothbrushings. Self-efficacy, planning, and action control are important self-regulatory skills in this context. Future interventions should map these self-regulatory predictors onto behaviour change techniques.
据报道，全球 60-90%的儿童患有龋齿，因此，早年口腔健康不良是一个主要的公共卫生问题。由于父母对孩子的口腔卫生习惯很重要，我们使用健康行动过程方法，研究了父母监督孩子刷牙的主要自我调节行为。
参与者（N=281，197 位母亲）为澳大利亚 2-5 岁儿童的父母。采用纵向设计，通过自我效能感和计划（第 2 时间点）以及行动控制（第 3 时间点），调查意图（第 1 时间点）对父母监督孩子刷牙（第 3 时间点）的关键自我调节行为的顺序中介链。
一个潜在变量结构方程模型，控制了基线行为和习惯，表明意图通过自我效能感和行动控制以及意图通过计划和行动控制对父母监督行为的显著间接影响。该模型与数据拟合良好，解释了父母监督孩子刷牙行为的 74%的方差。
虽然有国家建议来指导父母促进孩子的良好口腔卫生习惯，但目前的结果表明，仅仅通过简单的知识传递来支持父母监督孩子刷牙的意图是不够的，还需要支持父母的意图实际上转化为行动。目前的研究结果为健康行为改变中自我调节成分的累积实证证据做出了重要贡献，并为干预措施的发展提供了信息，以增加父母参与儿童口腔卫生习惯的程度，从而有助于遏制口腔健康状况和疾病的上升。
