Abstract:
Abstract
Background:Oral hygiene behavior is very lowamong school children in Ethiopia.
According to TPB, intention is the immediate determinant of oral hygiene behavior.
However,student’s intention to oral hygiene behavior is not well-studied in the country.
Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the level and predictors of intention to oral
hygiene behavior and the predictive utility of theory of planned behavior among preparatory
school students in Gondar city, Northwest Ethiopia, 2020.
Methods: Institution based cross-sectional study design was employed among
403preparatory school students of Gondar city from March 5 -13, 2020. Stratified multi
stage simple random sampling was used to select participants. Data was collected through
pretested self-administered structured questionnaire. Data was entered into EpiData
version 4.6 and transferred in to SPSS version 26and AMOS version 23for further analysis.
Descriptive analysis, correlations, independent ttest, and structural equation modelling
analysis (SEM) were employed toconfirm relationships and association among TPB
variables.P-value less than 0.05 were used to determine statistical significance.
Result:A total of 403 students involved with a response rate of 97.5% (393).The mean age
of the participants was 18 (±1.3) with age range of 16 to 24.More than half(54%) of the
participants were females.The median (inter-quartile range) intention was 5.75 (4.5-7).
Theory of planned behavior was well fitted to the data and explained 66% of the variance in
intention. Direct attitude (? = 0.38), direct subjective norm (? = 0.33) and direct perceived
behavioral control (? = 29) were significant predictors of intention where direct attitude was
emerged as the strongest predictor, (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: Oral hygiene behavioural intentionwas substantially high. Both direct and
indirect TPB variables significantly predicted intentionandattitude was the strongest
predictor. Theory of planned behavior was adequate in predicting oral hygiene behavioral
intention. Hence,school oral hygiene interventions shouldgive due emphasis toattitudinal
changes though focusing on subjective norm and perceived behavioral control changes
isalso important. Moreover,TPB can be used to guide researches in the area of interest.
Key words: Intention, Oral hygiene behavior, Theory of planned behavior, SEM,
Gondar, Ethiopia
