Journal of Dental Medicine

Background and Aim: It is necessary to assess health status for designing and programming about oral health behaviors. In this study the Effectiveness of Health Promotion Model in Predicting oral health among the Students of Islamic Azad University of Sabzevar was examined.

Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive-analytic, cross-sectional study. A random (stratified) sample of 250 university students in Islamic Azad university of Sabzevar, participated in the study. Appropriate instruments were designed to measure the variables of interest based on health promotion model. Reliability and validity of the instruments were examined by a panel of experts and cronbach alpha (N=30,α=0.65-0.81) respectively. The data were analyzed by SPSS 11.5 Statistical Software using Spearman Coefficient, Path analysis based on regression and ANOVA.

Results: The mean of oral health behaviors among students was moderate (19.17±3.91 out of total 36).Statistically significant differences were found in oral health behaviors and the model variables by parent education (P<0.05). The results showed that the model variables were related to oral health behaviors of the students (P<0.05).Self-efficacy,interpersonal influences,positive emotion, perceived barriers and commitment to plan of action as variables of HPM model explained 29% of oral health behaviors among subjects within which self-efficacy was the strongest predictor)β=0.252).

Conclusion: Although the mean of oral health behaviors was moderate among the subjects, but it should be promoted because of their great importance on the individuals' health. It was concluded that the Health Promotion Model may be used as a framework for planning intervention programs in an attempt to improve the oral health behaviors of the university students.