Correlation Of Oral Health Literacy?Self-efficacy And Oral Health Related Quality Of Life In Pregnant Women

ObjectiveTo investigate the current status of oral health literacy,self-efficacy of oral health and oral health-related quality of life of pregnant women,and to explore their relevance to provide theoretical evidence for effective and reasonable oral health education and intervention measures of pregnant women.MethodsA total of 503 pregnant women in two tertiary hospital in Wuhan from October to December 2017 were recruited conveniently.Data on their basic information,oral health literacy,oral health-related self-efficacy,and oral health-related quality of life were collected by questionnaires including a self-developed general information survey,Health Literacy in Dentistry Scale-14-Chinese Version(HELD-14-C),Self-efficacy of Oral Health Scale(SEOH),and oral health impact profile Scale-14(OHIP-14).SPSS 22.0 was used for data analysis.Descriptive statistics were used to describe the data.Mann-Whitney U test,Kruskal-Wallis H test,Spearman rank correlation analysis,order logistic regression,and multiple stepwise regression analysis were used to analyze the influential factors of oral health literacy,self-efficacy and oral health related quality of life and their correlations in pregnant women.Results(1)The overall score of oral health literacy was 46.34 8.78 in pregnant women.The higher,medium and lower proportion for the oral health literacy were 14.3%,72.0%,and13.7%,respectively.There were significantly differences in different education level,family total annual income,and oral health care guidance(all P<0.05).(2)The overall score of self-efficacy of oral health was 87.8 16.49 in pregnant women.The higher,medium and lower proportion for self-efficacy of oral health were14.1%,69.2% and 16.7%,respectively.The lower level of subscales of check-up and psychological control was found.There were significantly difference in different place of residence and gestational weeks(all P<0.05).(3)The overall score of oral health-related quality of life was 9.15 8.15 in pregnant women.The scores of four subdimensions from highest to lowest were 2.63 2.21 in pain and discomfort,2.57 2.33 in psychologic discomfort,2.11 2.14 in physical discomfort,and 1.8 2.55 in independent ability.There were significantly differences in different the place of residence,gestational weeks,ethnicity and number of pregnancy(all P<0.05).(4)The positive correlations between oral health literacy and self-efficacy of oral health in pregnant women was found(P<0.01).There was a statistically significant difference between the higher grades group and the lower grades group of oral health literacy in the self-efficacy of oral health(P<0.01).(5)The positive correlation between self-efficacy of oral health and oral health-related quality of life in pregnant women was found(P<0.01).There was a statistically significant difference between the higher grades group and the lower grades group of self-efficacy of oral health in oral health-related quality of life(P<0.01).(6)There was no significant correlation between oral health literacy and oral health-related quality of life in pregnant women,while there was a statistically significant difference between the higher grades group and the lower grades group of oral health literacy in oral health-related quality(P <0.05).Conclusions(1)The oral health literacy of pregnant women was at a medium to high level.The oral health literacy of pregnant women with low education level,low total family income and not receiving oral health care guidance was poorer.(2)The self-efficacy of oral health of pregnant women was at a medium level.Pregnant women living in rural area and in their late pregnancy had lower self-efficacy of oral health.(3)The oral health related quality of life of pregnant women is at a low level,Pregnant women living in rural area,from ethnic minorities,in their first pregnancy,in early pregnancy and late pregnancy had lower level of oral health-related quality of life.(4)Correlation between oral health literacy and self-efficacy of oral health in pregnant women was positive.It indicates that increasing oral health literacy could improve the oral health care self-efficacy of pregnant women.(5)Correlation between self-efficacy of oral health and oral health-related quality of life was positive.It indicates that increasing oral health self-efficacy could improve the oral health of pregnant women.(6)The oral health quality of life was better in the higher oral health literacy group than that in the lower group in pregnant women.It indicates that interventions aiming at increasing one's health literacy may improve their health quality of life.