Exploratory Factor Analysis of Parental Behaviors for Preventing Childhood Caries in Rural Thailand
Supattarayan Thongjit PhD1, Sauwanan Bumrerraj MD, PhD1
Affiliation : 1 Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand
Background and Objective : Dental caries is still a major health problem in pre-school children, especially in rural areas of
Thailand. In early childhood caries [ECC], parents provide the total care for a child’s oral hygiene. Thus, the parents’ role is
essential for preventing tooth decay in pre-school children both with and without cleft lip and palate. The purpose of this
study was to develop the factors that characterize parental behaviors in oral hygiene for the pre-school children.
Materials and Methods : Exploratory factor analysis was used to test the relationships between the parental behaviors in oral
hygiene for the pre-school children and factors from health belief model and from social learning cognitive theory.
Results : The 5 factors found to be related with one another in the analysis, including the child’s oral hygiene, the parental
behaviors modification in oral hygiene for the pre-school children, parental belief in oral care, parental perception of personal
ability, and parental oral hygiene knowledge. These 5 factors were measured by the 14 observation variables, which can be
explained with the variance at 68.98%. In addition, food choices and social support were not indicative of oral care practice.
Conclusion : The factor loading can be used to analyze the causal relationships between parental oral hygiene practices and
pre-school children oral hygiene. These factors will help to determine the patterns of oral care for all preschool children both
with and without the cleft palate at an early age.
Keywords : Early childhood caries, Parental behavior, Causal relationship
