Parenting and Family Support Centre, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Int J Paediatr Dent. 2020 Jan;30(1):75-84. doi: 10.1111/ipd.12570. Epub 2019 Sep 3.
Oral disease is one of the most prevalent chronic health conditions affecting children. Twice-daily toothbrushing is recommended to promote good oral health; however, a large proportion of Australian families are not meeting this recommendation.
This study aimed to identify important barriers to regular toothbrushing for young children.
In this study, 239 parents of 0- to 4-year-old children completed an online survey that investigated child, family, and parent factors associated with child toothbrushing. Hierarchical linear regression was used to identify predictors of toothbrushing frequency in children and perceived difficulty of the task by parents.
We found that parent factors, specifically oral health knowledge, were the most significant predictors of toothbrushing frequency. Conversely, parent factors did not contribute significantly to the prediction of perceived difficulty of toothbrushing once family and child factors were taken into account. Oral health knowledge and use of routines were identified as the most important predictors of toothbrushing frequency, whereas resistant child behaviour and household organisation were found to be the most important predictors of perceived difficulty of regular toothbrushing.
The findings of the study have implications for behavioural interventions to support parents, as well as directions for future research.
口腔疾病是影响儿童最常见的慢性健康问题之一。建议每天刷牙两次以促进口腔健康；然而，很大一部分澳大利亚家庭无法做到这一点。
本研究旨在确定幼儿定期刷牙的重要障碍。
在这项研究中，239 名 0 至 4 岁儿童的家长完成了一项在线调查，调查了与儿童刷牙相关的儿童、家庭和家长因素。分层线性回归用于确定儿童刷牙频率和父母认为刷牙任务难度的预测因素。
我们发现，父母因素，特别是口腔健康知识，是刷牙频率的最重要预测因素。相反，一旦考虑到家庭和儿童因素，父母因素对刷牙难度的感知并没有显著贡献。口腔健康知识和日常习惯的使用被确定为刷牙频率的最重要预测因素，而抗拒的儿童行为和家庭组织被认为是定期刷牙难度感知的最重要预测因素。
该研究结果对支持家长的行为干预措施以及未来研究的方向具有重要意义。
