Validation and Impact of Caregivers' Oral Health Knowledge and Behavior on Children's Oral Health Status.

Purpose: To validate oral health knowledge and behavior measures from the Basic Research Factors Questionnaire, developed to capture specific themes contributing to children's oral health outcomes and the influence of caregivers.

Methods: Data were collected as part of a randomized clinical trial (n equals 992) aimed at reducing dental caries in young children. Participants were American Indian/Alaska Native caregivers with a three- to five-year-old child enrolled in a Navajo Nation Head Start Center. Caregivers completed the questionnaire at enrollment with concomitant evaluation of children for decayed, missing, and filled tooth surfaces (dmfs). Oral health knowledge and behavior outcomes were compared with convergent measures (participant sociodemographic characteristics, oral health attitudes, and indicators of oral health status).

Results: Caregiver oral health knowledge was significantly associated with education, income, oral health behavior, and all but one of the oral health attitude measures. Behavior was significantly associated with several measures of oral health attitudes and all but one measure of oral health status. As the behavior score improved, dmfs scores declined, child/caregiver overall oral health status improved, and pediatric oral health quality of life improved.

Conclusions: Questionnaire measures were valid for predicting specific caregiver factors potentially contributing to children's oral health status.