Correlates of dental visits in children with hearing loss: An application of the theory of planned behaviour.

BACKGROUND: Maintenance of oral health of children with special needs requires the involvement of caregivers who are also responsible for ensuring adherence to professional recommendations, including dental visits. AIM: This study aimed at exploring the correlates of dental visits of children with hearing loss (CWHL) in Indonesia using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). DESIGN: This cross-sectional study involved purposive sampling methods, conducted via an online survey administered to mothers of CWHL who were aged 5-12 years. Constructs of the TPB model were collected, including the mother's attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behaviour control (PBC) and intention towards dental visits for CWHL. Dental visits were measured by asking whether their children had a dental visit within the last 12 months. Data were analysed using SPSS for descriptive and bivariate analyses. The significance level was set as p < .05. Partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyse measurement and structural TPB models. RESULTS: A total of 254 mothers participated in this study. The final TPB model explained 35.4% and 9.2% of the variance in mothers' intention and behaviour towards their children's dental visits, respectively. Of all the included constructs from the TPB model, only PBC was significantly associated with intention and behaviour (p < .05). The mother's attitude and subjective norms did not significantly predict intention (p > .05). Intention did not significantly predict the mother's behaviour towards children's dental visits (p > .05). CONCLUSION: The TPB model revealed a construct associated with dental visit intention and behaviour in CWHL. This study suggested that effective promotion intervention should focus on the mother's PBC to increase parents' adherence to preventive dental visits in CWHL in Indonesia.

Cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric properties of the Indonesian version of theory of planned behavior questionnaire to measure dental attendance of children with hearing loss: A pilot study.

AIMS: To translate and evaluate the validity and reliability of the Indonesian version of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) questionnaire concerning mother's behavior related to children's dental attendance. METHODS AND RESULTS: The cross-cultural adaptation was tested in mothers with children aged 5-12 years old who have hearing loss. The validity and reliability of the online questionnaire were measured among 31 mothers of children with hearing loss in communities and Special School for Children with Hearing Loss in several regions in Indonesia. All indicators of attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control (PBC) on mothers' behavior towards children's attendance was valid (p < .05). The overall Cronbach's alpha of the questionnaire for internal consistency was 0.773. The test-retest reliability results were based on repeated administration in the same participant mother, measured at one-week interval; the interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.903. CONCLUSION: The Indonesian version of the TPB questionnaire concerning mother's behavior related to children's oral health has shown adequate validity and reliability for investigating the dental attendance of children with hearing loss.