Abstract
[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to develop an oral health behavior assessment scale based on a PRECEDE-PROCEED model for older adults in a community with the goal of developing an oral care program that the older adults can personally control.
[Methods] This study was approved by the ethics committee of our university. An oral health behavior assessment scale (OHBAS) was developed based on the results obtained by a focus group interview of older adults using a PRECEDE-PROCEED model containing 41 items. A questionnaire survey about the OHBAS was conducted among 1,883 older adults and their family living together.
[Results] 1. Eight-hundred and three responses to the OHBAS were analyzed. The subjects had an average age of 75.7 years, 42.0% of whom were men and 47.4% of whom had 20 or more teeth.
2. Twenty-five items were selected for the OHBAS from the results of frequency distribution, mean and factor analysis.
3. Six factors were obtained by exploratory factor analysis, i.e., “quality of life,” “oral health,” “oral health behavior,” “predisposing factors,” “reinforcing factors,”and“enabling factors,”similar to the structure of the PRECEDE model, which consists of 7 factors. Construct validity was analyzed by covariance structure analysis. As goodness of fit between the constructs is the basis of the PRECEDE model, the goodness of fit index showed 0.866, and adjusted goodness of fit index showed 0.837. Hence, construct validity has a tolerance level.
4. Reliability was analyzed by internal consistency. Cronbach's a was 0.773 for overall scores.
[Conclusion] These results suggest that the developed OHBAS has a tolerance level for validity and reliability by statistical analysis.
