Open Collections

Abstract

Theory-based oral health-promoting interventions were effective in previous studies. Also, interactive learning was more effective than conventional dental education. The dissertation presents three studies describing interactive and theory-guided strategies for promoting children's and adolescents' oral health. The first study tested whether cooperative learning (CL) guided by Self-determination theory (SDT) is an effective strategy to promote adolescent oral health. It found that CL was efficient in improving oral self-care skills and oral health knowledge in school-aged students. The improvement was maintained for 6 months after the discontinued educational intervention. The second study assessed the effectiveness of one-to-one preventive dental education provided by dental undergraduate students for improving elementary school-aged children’s oral self-care skills, diet-related knowledge and behaviour and found that: (a) one-to-one preventive dental education was efficient short-term to improve elementary school-aged children’s oral self-care skills, and their diet-related knowledge and behaviour; (b) most of the improvements in children’s oral self-care skills and diet behaviour were maintained for another six months after the discontinued preventive dental education in the older children but such improvements were only partly sustained in the younger children. The third study evaluated the effectiveness of a short messaging service (SMS) for improving children’s and adolescents’ oral self-care skills, diet-related knowledge and behaviour. SMS was efficient in improving children’s oral self-care skills and oral health-related knowledge, which was maintained for six months after the discontinued dental education. Altogether, these studies highlight the importance of interactive, theory-guided oral health interventions in adolescents. The findings contribute to knowledge gaps in applying new strategies using the constructs of common psychological theories to support the maintenance of oral health in school-aged students.