Relação entre senso de coerência materno, condições socioeconômicas e percepção da saúde bucal The relationship between maternal sense of coherence, socioeconomic conditions and the perception of oral health

The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the maternal sense of coherence in mothers of preschool children, the variables of age, income, education, work, housing and the perception of oral health. Six hundred forty mothers of Level III preschool children (aged 4 and 5), in the municipality of Campo Grande (Mato Grosso do Sul) responded to two questionnaires: one on their socioeconomic conditions and perception of oral health and the other measuring their maternal sense of coherence. The data was statistically analysed using the BioEstat programme version 5.0. We used the Mann-Whitney test to compare the scores for a sense of coherence with a significance level of 5%. Findings suggested an association between a low sense of coherence and adverse socioeconomic conditions, just as how mothers under stressful circumstances expressed a more pessimistic view of their own oral health. The maternal sense of coherence therefore has strong psychological characteristics and may be considered a determinant of oral health. Uniterms: Psychological endurance. Psychological Stress. Health.