Lo Ying-Ying, Lee Pei-Liang, Kuo Hsien-Wen
Department of Healthcare Administration, I-Shou University, No.8, Yida Rd., Jiaosu Village Yanchao District, Kaohsiung City, 82445, Taiwan.
International Health Program, National Yang-Ming Chiao Tung University, No. 155, Sec. 2, Linong St. Beitou Dist., Taipei City, 112304, Taiwan.
BMC Oral Health. 2025 Jun 2;25(1):875. doi: 10.1186/s12903-025-06313-7.
Limited evidence suggested that the Health Belief Model (HBM) had been used to explain how children were influenced by their mothers' health behaviors amid the rapid increase in international marriages in Taiwan. This study aimed to explore the health beliefs of immigrant and Taiwanese mothers regarding their children's dental caries status using the HBM.
This study employed a cross-sectional design. A total of 157 Taiwanese mothers, 29 mothers from China, and 64 mothers from Southeast Asia were purposively selected from 11 elementary schools. Each participant completed a structured questionnaire that included socio-demographic information, lifestyle habits, self-perceived oral health beliefs, and oral hygiene behaviors. Dental records of children aged 6-12 were obtained from local dentists at each school.
Taiwanese mothers scored significantly higher in perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, and perceived benefit compared to mothers from China and Southeast Asia. However, there were no significant differences in the dental status of children among the three groups. A multiple linear regression model, adjusted for covariates, indicated that higher Health Belief scores in mothers were associated with lower dental caries in their children.
While environmental and genetic factors influenced dental caries in children, our findings demonstrated that a mother's health beliefs regarding oral hygiene significantly affected her children's dental status.
有限的证据表明，在台湾国际婚姻迅速增加的背景下，健康信念模型（HBM）已被用于解释儿童如何受到母亲健康行为的影响。本研究旨在使用HBM探索移民母亲和台湾母亲对其子女龋齿状况的健康信念。
本研究采用横断面设计。从11所小学中有意选取了157名台湾母亲、29名中国大陆母亲和64名东南亚母亲。每位参与者都完成了一份结构化问卷，内容包括社会人口学信息、生活习惯、自我感知的口腔健康信念和口腔卫生行为。6至12岁儿童的牙科记录从各学校的当地牙医处获取。
与中国大陆和东南亚的母亲相比，台湾母亲在感知易感性、感知严重性和感知益处方面的得分显著更高。然而，三组儿童的牙齿状况没有显著差异。在对协变量进行调整的多元线性回归模型中，母亲较高的健康信念得分与子女较低的龋齿发生率相关。
虽然环境和遗传因素影响儿童龋齿，但我们的研究结果表明，母亲对口腔卫生的健康信念会显著影响其子女的牙齿状况。
