Knowledge, attitudes, and practices on oral health prevention associated with sociodemographic factors of adolescent students from a Peruvian-Swiss educational institution

Abstract

Aim: Adolescents experience a period in their lives when major variations in their development occur, in addition to establishing practices and attitudes that will play an important role in their general health care, which will have an impact on their well-being and life quality in the future. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine how knowledge, attitudes, and practices on oral health prevention are related to sociodemographic factors of adolescent students in a Peruvian-Swiss Educational Institution. Materials and Methods: This observational and cross-sectional study in 154 adolescent students obtained by stratified random sampling was carried out during November to December 2021. A questionnaire validated by the Peruvian Association of Preventive and Social Dentistry (APOPS) was employed. For statistical analysis a Pearson’s chi-square test was applied, in addition to a logit model using odds ratio (OR) to evaluate knowledge, attitudes and practices on oral health prevention with the variables age, sex, academic level, family structure, educational level of parent or guardian, and nationality. A significance level of P < 0.05 was considered. Results: Of all the students, 44.81% presented insufficient knowledge, whereas 26.62% showed an unfavorable attitude and 1.95% reported incorrect practices. On the contrary, knowledge about oral health prevention was significantly associated with age group (P = 0.002), academic level (P = 0.004) and educational level of parent or guardian (P = 0.005). Attitude toward oral health prevention was significantly associated with age group (P = 0.045) and academic level (P = 0.044). Oral health prevention practice was not significantly associated with any factor. Finally, students whose parent or guardian had non-university higher education were significantly 67% less likely (OR = 0.33; confidence interval [CI]: 0.15–0.73) to have poor knowledge of oral health prevention than those whose parent or guardian had university higher education (P = 0.007). Conclusion: Knowledge and attitudes of the students about oral health prevention were associated with age and academic level. In addition, the educational level of parent or guardian was associated with knowledge, such that those students whose parent or guardian had non-university higher education were 67% less likely to have poor knowledge of oral health prevention than those whose parent or guardian had university higher education. Finally, the practice of oral health prevention was not associated with any of the sociodemographic factors considered in this study.