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). 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.