Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jan 8;17(2):403.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17020403.

Validation of Psychosocial Measures Assessing American Indian Parental Beliefs Related to Control over Their Children's Oral Health

Anne R Wilson  1 , Tamanna Tiwari  1 , Jacob F Thomas  2 , William G Henderson  2 , Patricia A Braun  2   3 , Judith Albino  3
Affiliations

Validation of Psychosocial Measures Assessing American Indian Parental Beliefs Related to Control over Their Children's Oral Health

Anne R Wilson et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Objectives: To validate questionnaire items assessing American Indian (AI) parental beliefs regarding control over their children's oral health within the context of psychosocial measures and children's oral health status.

Methods: Baseline questionnaire data were collected as part of a randomized controlled trial (n = 1016) addressing early childhood caries. Participants were AI parents with preschool-age children in the Navajo Nation Head Start program. Questionnaire items assessed parental oral health locus of control (OHLOC) and agreement with beliefs indicating that they were in control of their children's oral health (internal), the dentist was in control (external powerful others), or children's oral health was a matter of chance (external chance). Exploratory factor analysis was conducted, and convergent validity was assessed using linear regression.

Results: Parents with more education (p < 0.0001) and income (p = 0.001) had higher scores for internal OHLOC. Higher internal OHLOC scores were associated with higher scores on knowledge (p < 0.0001), perceived seriousness and benefits (p < 0.0001), higher self-efficacy, importance, sense of coherence (p < 0.0001 for all), and lower scores for perceived barriers (p < 0.0001) and distress (p = 0.01). Higher scores for both types of external OHLOC were associated with lower scores on knowledge (p < 0.0001), perceived seriousness (p < 0.0001), and higher scores on perceived susceptibility (p = 0.01 external chance; <0.0001 powerful others) and barriers (<0.0001). Higher scores for external powerful others were associated with lower scores for importance (p = 0.04) and sense of coherence (p = 0.03). Significant associations were not found for OHLOC beliefs and children's oral health status.

Conclusions: Questionnaire items addressing OHLOC functioned in accordance with the theoretical framework in AI participants.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01116739.

Keywords: American Indians; child; dental caries; locus of control; parents; psychosocial factors; validation studies.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Health locus of control model.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Dye B.A., Tan S., Smith V., Lewis B.G., Barker L.K., Thornton-Evans G., Eke P.I., Beltrán-Aguilar E.D., Horowitz A.M., Li C.H. Trends in oral health status: United States, 1988–1994 and 1999–2004. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Health Stat. 2007;248:1–92. - PubMed
    1. Indian Health Service, Department of Health and Human Services . The 1999 Oral Health Survey of American Indian and Alaska Native Dental Patients: Findings, Regional Differences and National Comparisons. Indian Health Service; Washington, DC, USA: 2002. [(accessed on 20 July 2019)]. Available online: www.ihs.gov/doh/index.cfm?fuseaction=ecc.display.
    1. Phipps K.R., Ricks T.L., Manz M.C., Blahut P. Prevalence and severity of dental caries among American Indian and Alaska Native preschool children. J. Public Health Dent. 2012;72:208–215. doi: 10.1111/j.1752-7325.2012.00331.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Navajo Population Profile 2010 U.S. Census. [(accessed on 20 July 2019)]; Available online: http://www.nec.navajo-nsn.gov/Portals/0/Reports/NN2010PopulationProfile.pdf.
    1. Batliner T., Wilson A.R., Tiwari T., Glueck D., Henderson W., Thomas J., Braun P., Cudeii D., Quissell D., Albino J. Oral health status in Navajo Nation Head Start children. J. Public Health Dent. 2014;74:317–325. doi: 10.1111/jphd.12061. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Associated data