1. UKM Learning and Research Repository
2. Master Thesis / Tesis Master
3. Faculty of Dentistry / Fakulti Pergigian

Title:	Health information seeking behaviour patterns among parents of children with early childhood caries
Authors:	Menaka Devi Ratnasingam (P91352)
Supervisor:	Elavarasi Kuppusamy, Dr.
Keywords:	Dental Caries Tooth Demineralization Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia -- Dissertations Dissertations, Academic -- Malaysia
Issue Date:	12-Jan-2021
Description:	Early Childhood Caries (ECC) affects over 600 million children worldwide. Information seeking behaviour is important as it can influence positive changes in peoples’ health related behaviours. In the prevention of ECC, parents play an important role by effectively searching for and practicing the necessary information. The aim of this study was to explore the health information seeking behaviour (HISB) among parents of children with ECC including how they looked for information on ECC, the type of information they wanted and their preferred source. In this mixed method research, parents of children being treated for ECC were conveniently sampled from the Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz (HCTM). The first phase involved semi-structured in-depth interviews with 20 participants which was recorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were coded and thematic analysis carried out to construct a conceptual framework. The four themes identified were immediacy of seeking information, the perceived information need, use of resources, and the challenges or barriers experienced. The result was used to construct a questionnaire which was then validated and piloted for the second phase. The final questionnaire was carried out on 211 respondents (72 males and 139 females) with the majority of the parents (n=169;80.1%) looking for information regarding ECC. They mainly sought information online via Google (n=111;65.7%). They also sought information from dental professionals (n=107;63.3%), social media (n=71;42.0%) or from friends (n=69;40.8%), and family (n=59;34.9%). Majority of the parents (>90%) agreed that they required information regarding the disease in terms of the causative factors, prevention, effects to health and long-term effects of primary teeth extraction with their preferred source of information directly from dentists (median=5) followed by other healthcare professionals (median=4). Thus, active participation from non-oral health professionals such as paediatricians and nurses are important to provide parents with timely information on ECC as they routinely see the child and their parents much earlier than oral healthcare professionals. Parents should be equipped with specific strategies via anticipatory guidance to manage the risk factors associated with ECC,Ijazah Doktor Pergigian Klinikal (Pergigian Pediatrik)
Pages:	124
Call Number:	WU270.M534h 2020 9 tesis
Publisher:	UKM, Kuala Lumpur
Appears in Collections:	Faculty of Dentistry / Fakulti Pergigian

Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.