Application of the extended theory of planned behavior to understand Chinese students’ intention to improve their oral health behaviors: a cross-sectional study

BMC Public Health

Hongyan Shi¹  Rui Huang¹  Xiang He¹  Xiaoming Xu¹  Chunhai Shao²  Akihiko Ozaki³  Tetsuya Tanimoto⁴  Jingya Wang⁵  Yuxin Zhang⁵  Nan Jiang⁵  Jiwei Wang⁵  Jie Zhao⁵ 

[1] Dental Disease Prevention and Treatment Center of Minhang District, 1038 Fanxing Road, Huacao Town, Minhang District, 201100, Shanghai, China;Minhang Branch of Fudan University School of Public health, Shanghai, China;Department of Clinical Nutrition, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China;Jyoban Hospital of Tokiwa Foundation, Fukushima, Japan;Medical Governance Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan;Minhang Branch of Fudan University School of Public health, Shanghai, China;Key Lab of Health Technology Assessment of Ministry of Health, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China;

关键词: Theory of planned behavior;    Oral health behaviors;    Behavioral intention;    Behavioral sciences;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-021-12329-9

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe present study aimed to develop and test an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB), which includes attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control, oral health knowledge, and past oral health behavior on the intention to improve oral health behaviors among primary school students in Shanghai, China.MethodsA school-based cross-sectional study was conducted with 414 students in the third-grade from 10 classes of Mingqiang Primary School located in Shanghai, China. Participants were recruited in October 2019. Data were collected through self-reported questionnaires, consisting of demographic characteristics, TPB variables, oral health knowledge and past oral health behaviors. Exploratory factor analysis was used to analyze TPB items. Pearson’s correlation and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to identify the associated factors of intention to improve oral health behaviors.ResultsThe study showed that among students in the third grade, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and past oral health behaviors were associated with the intention to improve oral health behaviors. In the hierarchical regression analysis, age and sex were entered in Model 1 which significantly explained 3.00% of the variance (F = 6.26, p < 0.01). The addition of Model 2 variables of attitudes, perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, and oral health knowledge revealed that TPB variables explained 26.70% (F = 29.59, p < 0.01). For Model 3, the addition of past oral health behaviors accounted for a further 1% of variance, and the full model has accounted for 28.30% of the variance with the intention to improve oral health behaviors (F = 22.8, p < 0.01). Regression analyses supported that among the significant variables, perceived behavioral control had the largest beta weight, followed by subjective norms and past oral health behaviors.ConclusionThe extended TPB model constructed in this study could be used to explain children’s intentions to improve oral health behaviors. Children’s oral health-related perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, and past oral health behaviors may serve as priority intervention targets in oral health promotion practices aimed at children.

【 授权许可】

CC BY