Effective Factors on Oral and Dental Health of Patients with Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 Based on the Health Belief Model

Aims: One of the most commonly diagnosed chronic diseases in the world is diabetes. Considering the prevalence of oral and dental problems in diabetic patients and importance of evaluating the behavior of patients based on behavioral models, the present study was conducted to survey the effective factors on the oral and dental health of patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 based on the health belief model. Instruments & Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study, 320 patients with diabetes mellitus type 2, who referred to Kashan Diabetes Clinic in 2018, were selected by systematic random sampling method. The data were collected through a researcher-made questionnaire including awareness, HBM model, and performance of patients in the field of oral and dental health behaviors. The data were analyzed by SPSS 16 software using Pearson correlation coefficient and linear regression analysis. Findings: The mean scores of awareness (2.26±0.31), the performance of oral and dental health behaviors (2.31±0.55), perceived susceptibility (3.36±0.69), perceived severity (4.27±0.67), perceived benefit (2.98±0.63), perceived barriers (4.16±0.77), self-efficacy (3.49±0.77), internal cues to action (3.94±0.78) and external cues to action (3.52±0.85) were obtained. In this study, awareness, perceived barriers and self-efficacy were the strongest predictors of oral and dental health behaviors that predicted 34% of behavior variance (p<0.001). Conclusion: Awareness, self-efficacy, and perceived barriers are predictors of oral and dental health behaviors.