Journal List > J Korean Acad Oral Health > v.37(2) > 1057590

Ju, Oh, and Lee: A cross-sectional study on oral health literacy and its influencing factors among adults: II. Functional oral health literacy

Abstract

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to examine the functional oral health literacy and its influencing factors among adults.

Methods

The subjects were 760 adults living in the cities of Iksan and Jeonju. A survey was conducted among 18-59-year-olds. Adults who were 60 years of age or older were also selected by convenience sampling and interviewed.

Results

In total, 36 percent of the adults tested on functional oral health literacy scored a seven or less on our survey, indicating that their functional oral health literacy was inadequate. Functional oral health literacy was related to age, educational level (especially, low levels of math) and family income.

Conclusions

Many adults have poor functional oral health literacy. Therefore, improvement programs for oral health literacy for adults need to be developed, taking into account their social characteristics.

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Table 1.
Result of survey to test functional oral health literacy (N=760)
Questions N (%)
Availability of dental care services 699 (92.0)
Gargle method after using fluoride tablet 649 (85.4)
One-time usage of the mouth rinse 635 (83.6)
The required date for cancellation of the dental care services appointment 614 (80.8)
Recommended amount of toothpaste for a children 600 (78.9)
Suggested time to wait eating food after using mouth rinses 595 (78.3)
Amount of toothpaste on toothbrush for a child's one single use 583 (76.7)
The required day for cancellation of the dental care services appointment 546 (71.8)
Total amount of sodium fluoride 525 (69.1)
Availability of using toothpaste for a children 239 (31.4)
Table 2.
Distribution of functional oral health literacy scores
Functional oral health literacy
Scores 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total
N (%) 5 (0.7) 20 (2.6) 20 (2.6) 16 (2.1) 32 (4.2) 40 (5.3) 51 (6.7) 91 (12.0) 174 (22.9) 196 (25.8) 115 (15.1) 760 (100.0)
Table 3.
Functional oral health literacy scores by socioeconomic characteristics
Variables Classification Functional oral health literacy F value or t value P-value*
N Mean (±SD)
Gender Male 372 7.70 (±2.24) 2.603 0.009
Female 388 7.27 (±2.35)
Marital status Married 483 7.16 (±2.32) ―6.176 <0.001
Single 270 8.16 (±2.01)
Age ≤29 yra 223 8.36 (±1.85) 23.558 <0.001
30-39 yra 176 7.72 (±2.13)
40-49 yrb 177 7.20 (±2.19)
50-59 yrb 120 6.85 (±2.19)
≥60 yrc 64 5.70 (±3.16)
Education level ≤Middle schoola 47 5.36 (±3.15) 31.063 <0.001
High schoolb 272 7.20 (±2.45)
≥Collegec 431 7.90 (±1.93)
Family income ≤199a 114 6.32 (±2.85) 10.710 <0.001
(10,000 KRW) 200-299b 174 7.36 (±2.26)
300-399b 209 7.64 (±2.26)
400-499b 205 7.94 (±1.87)
≥500b 50 7.98 (±2.10)

*Determined from t-test or oneway ANOVA.

a ,b,cThe same letter indicates no significant difference (P>0.05).

Table 4.
Functional oral health literacy level according to socioeconomic characteristics N (%)
Variables Classification Functional oral health literacy
Top 25% Bottom 25% Total P-value*
Gender Male 169 (57.9) 123 (42.1) 292 (100.0) 0.020
Female 142 (48.3) 152 (51.7) 294 (100.0)
Total 311 (53.1) 275 (46.9) 586 (100.0)
Age <40 yr 210 (67.7) 100 (32.3) 310 (100.0) <0.001
≥40 yr 101 (36.6) 175 (63.4) 276 (100.0)
Total 311 (53.1) 275 (46.9) 586 (100.0)
Education level ≤Middle school 10 (22.7) 34 (77.3) 44 (100.0) <0.001
High school 99 (46.0) 116 (54.0) 215 (100.0)
≥College 201 (62.0) 122 (38.0) 323 (100.0)
Total 310 (53.3) 272 (46.7) 582 (100.0)
Family income <200 28 (31.1) 62 (68.9) 90 (100.0) <0.001
(10,000 Won) 200-299 69 (48.0) 76 (52.0) 145 (100.0)
≥300 211 (61.3) 133 (38.7) 344 (100.0)
Total 308 (53.2) 271 (46.8) 579 (100.0)
Marital status Married 161 (44.0) 206 (56.0) 367 (100.0) <0.001
Single 148 (69.8) 64 (30.2) 212 (100.0)
Total 309 (53.4) 270 (46.6) 579 (100.0)

*P-values by χ

2 -test.

Table 5.
Discriminative power of functional oral health literacy items unit: %
Functional oral health literacy
Items Total Bottom 25% Top 25% Contingency Difference
(A) (B) coefficient (B-A)
The required day for cancellation of the dental care services appointment* 71.8 39.3 97.7 0.538 58.4
Total amount of sodium fluoride* 69.1 38.2 96.8 0.535 58.6
Suggested time to wait eating food after using mouth rinses* 78.3 44.4 99.0 0.525 54.6
Recommended amount of toothpaste for a children* 78.9 53.5 99.7 0.486 46.2
The required date for cancellation of the dental care services appointment* 80.8 54.5 98.7 0.470 44.2
One-time usage of the mouth rinses* 83.6 57.5 99.7 0.465 42.2
Amount of toothpaste on toothbrush for a child's one single use* 76.7 53.5 94.2 0.426 40.7
Gargle method after using fluoride tablet* 85.4 65.5 99.7 0.419 34.2
Availability of using toothpaste for a children* 31.4 13.8 52.4 0.376 38.6
Availability of dental care services* 92.0 81.5 99.0 0.290 17.5

*P<0.01 by χ

2 -test.

Table 6.
Multiple regression analysis results for functional oral health literacy scores
Functional oral health literacy
B β
Age ―0.471 ―0.265*
Education level 0.224 0.114*
Family income 0.371 0.114*
R2=0.133 Adjusted R2=0.130

B, regression coefficient; β, standardized regression coefficient. *P<0.05.

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