School of Stomatology, Kunming Medical University, Kunming 650000, China.
Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jul 8;18(14):7323. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18147323.
Young children with special needs greatly rely on their parents to support their daily living activities; parental compliance may have great impact on the implementation of health promotion activities among those children. This study aimed to investigate the parental compliance towards oral health education (OHE) among children with special healthcare needs (SHCN).
The participants were 306 parents whose children had participated in a 24-month OHE program for preschool children with SHCN. The primary outcome of this cross-sectional study was parental compliance towards the OHE program. Parents' oral health literacy (OHL) was assessed by a validated tool. Parents' socioeconomic status, attitudes towards OHE topics, perceptions of children's oral hygiene status, and usefulness of OHE materials were collected via questionnaires.
A higher dropout rate was observed among parents who perceived that their children had unfavorable oral hygiene status ( = 0.038), or parents who had poor OHL skills ( = 0.015). Parental noncompliance was more likely to be observed among parents who perceived that the OHE materials were not useful for their children (OR = 3.63, 95% CI 1.56 to 8.47, = 0.003), or parents whose children had been diagnosed with developmental delays (OR = 5.45, 95% CI 1.59 to18.74, = 0.007).
Non-compliance existed among parents whose children had received OHE intervention. Parental compliance towards OHE intervention might be associated with parents' OHL skills, usefulness of OHE materials, and children's developmental conditions. OHE programs should be individually tailored to support children whose parents are at a higher risk of noncompliant behaviors.
有特殊需要的幼儿在日常生活活动中极大地依赖父母的支持；父母的依从性可能对这些儿童健康促进活动的实施产生重大影响。本研究旨在调查有特殊医疗需求儿童（SHCN）的父母对口腔健康教育（OHE）的依从性。
参与者为 306 名父母，他们的孩子参加了一项针对有特殊医疗需求学龄前儿童的 24 个月 OHE 计划。本横断面研究的主要结果是父母对 OHE 计划的依从性。通过验证工具评估父母的口腔健康素养（OHL）。通过问卷调查收集父母的社会经济地位、对 OHE 主题的态度、对儿童口腔卫生状况的看法以及 OHE 材料的有用性。
父母认为孩子口腔卫生状况不佳（ = 0.038）或父母 OHL 技能较差（ = 0.015）的儿童，辍学率较高。父母认为 OHE 材料对孩子没有用处（OR = 3.63，95%CI 1.56 至 8.47， = 0.003）或孩子被诊断为发育迟缓（OR = 5.45，95%CI 1.59 至 18.74， = 0.007）的父母，更有可能出现不依从行为。
接受 OHE 干预的儿童的父母存在不依从行为。父母对 OHE 干预的依从性可能与父母的 OHL 技能、OHE 材料的有用性以及儿童的发育状况有关。OHE 计划应根据父母的不依从行为风险进行个体化调整，以支持儿童。
