Oral Health Knowledge and Attitude as Determinants of Oral Health Behavior in a Sample of Old People in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria

Adequate oral health knowledge, attitude and behavior are very important for the improvement of patient’s oral health. The objective of the study was to assess the oral health knowledge, attitude and behavior of elderly people in Port Harcourt and determine the relationship between these variables. The research was descriptive survey and correlational in design. A total of 543 old people were selected by systematic random sampling. Data was collected with a self-developed Oral Health Assessment Questionnaire (OHAQ) designed in four sections (A-D) and analysed using SPSS version 20 (IBM SPSS Armonk, New York). Relationship between variables was established by simple regression and significance determined at 0.05 alpha level. Majority (63%) and (66%) of the pensioners in Port Harcourt Rivers State had poor knowledge of oral health and negative attitude toward oral health respectively. About 60% of the participants had poor oral health behavior. Oral health knowledge and attitude accounted for 43.56% (R 2 = 0.4356) and 22.09% ((R 2 = 0.2209) respectively of the variance in the behavior of the pensioners. There was a significant moderate and positive relationship between oral health knowledge and behavior (R = 0.66) and between oral health attitude and behavior (R = 0.47). The present study showed that oral health knowledge and attitude of the respondents significantly and moderately predicted their oral health behavior. There is therefore the need to educate this group on appropriate oral self-care and regular dental visits as a cornerstone to the promotion of oral health and prevention of oral diseases.