口腔相关心理变量对中国的口腔就诊行为重要吗？一项横断面研究。

Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Tianjin, China.

Lifespan and Population Health, Medical School, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.

J Public Health Dent. 2022 Sep;82(4):437-444. doi: 10.1111/jphd.12479. Epub 2021 Dec 23.

OBJECTIVE

Dental services are expanding in China, yet there is little evidence available on the dental-related psychological factors contributing to the uptake of dental services. Our study explored whether beliefs, anxiety, and cognitions significantly differ across different levels of attendance, and whether dental-related psychological variables can independently predict dental attendance in Chinese adults. We also explored the extent to which cognitions and beliefs relate to attendance as a function of dental anxiety.

METHOD

In our cross-sectional study 480 adult participants in China completed a questionnaire including dental attendance and measures of dental-related psychological variables (dental cognitions, beliefs, anxiety, and fear of dental pain).

RESULTS

Only 25.8% of participants visited the dentist regularly. There was a significant difference for all dental-related psychological variables (p < 0.001), across all three levels of dental attendance (never; irregularly or regularly attend). Thus, fear of dental pain and dental anxiety are higher, and cognitions and beliefs are more negative, for those who have less favorable dental service utilization. All these variables, except fear of dental pain, were also independent predictors of dental attendance (p < 0.05). Moreover, how individuals think, and what they believe, about the dentist (and the dental context) were only partially explained through dental anxiety. Thus, beliefs (β = 0.579, SE = 0.035, p < 0.001) and cognitions (β = 0.594, SE = 0.045, p < 0.001) are impacting on dental attendance, mostly independent of whether the individual is anxious.

CONCLUSION

Our preliminary findings show dental-related psychological factors are related to dental attendance and these should be explored further in a larger sample.

目的

中国的牙科服务正在扩大，但对于促成人们利用牙科服务的与牙科相关的心理因素，目前几乎没有相关证据。本研究旨在探讨信念、焦虑和认知在不同就诊频率人群中是否存在显著差异，以及牙科相关心理变量是否能独立预测中国成年人的就诊情况。我们还探讨了认知和信念与就诊情况的关系，以及这种关系是否受牙科焦虑的影响。

方法

在我们的横断面研究中，480 名中国成年人完成了一份问卷，其中包括就诊情况以及牙科相关心理变量（牙科认知、信念、焦虑和对牙科疼痛的恐惧）的测量。

结果

只有 25.8%的参与者定期看牙医。所有牙科相关心理变量（p<0.001）在所有三个就诊频率水平（从不；不规律或规律就诊）中均存在显著差异。因此，对牙科疼痛的恐惧和牙科焦虑更高，认知和信念更消极，对于那些不太愿意利用牙科服务的人来说更是如此。除了对牙科疼痛的恐惧之外，所有这些变量也都是就诊的独立预测因素（p<0.05）。此外，个体对牙医（以及牙科环境）的看法和信念仅部分通过牙科焦虑来解释。因此，信念（β=0.579，SE=0.035，p<0.001）和认知（β=0.594，SE=0.045，p<0.001）对就诊情况有影响，主要与个体是否焦虑无关。