Association between oral health literacy and self-reported oral health behavior in adults (2017-Kerman-Iran)

Background and objectives : The role of health literacy has been studied in medical and general health in the recent years. The present study evaluated the association between oral health literacy and self-reported oral health behavior in individuals referring to Kerman health centers. Methods : The cross-sectional study was conducted on 338 adults referring to Kerman health centers and selected by multiple cluster sampling method. Data collection was done through a valid oral health literacy questionnaire, demographic data and oral health behavior questionnaire. Data was analyzed by SPSS software/version 21, linear regression and T-tests. P-value was significant at the level of 0.05%. Results : sixty two and seventy five percent of samples were females in the present study. The mean age of individuals was 36.53±10.02 years. Thirty two percent of them had educational degrees. The mean score of DMFT was 10.27±6.79. The mean score of oral health literacy was 11.04±4.43. Forty nine percent had inadequate oral health literacy. There was a significant association between the oral health literacy, educational level, and oral health behavior, and also a significant association between the oral health behavior and gender, educational level and mean of DMFT index. Conclusion : The results of the present study indicated that the oral health literacy was moderate and associated with educational level and oral health behavior. An understanding of participants' oral health literacy levels was crucial for designing effective health educational materials and creating intervention programs to promote the oral health. Keywords : Oral health literacy, Kerman, Oral health behavior, Adults