Correlates of dental visits in children with hearing loss: An application of the theory of planned behaviour.

Background: Maintenance of oral health of children with special needs requires the involvement of caregivers who are also responsible for ensuring adherence to professional recommendations, including dental visits.

Aim: This study aimed at exploring the correlates of dental visits of children with hearing loss (CWHL) in Indonesia using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB).

Design: This cross-sectional study involved purposive sampling methods, conducted via an online survey administered to mothers of CWHL who were aged 5-12 years. Constructs of the TPB model were collected, including the mother's attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behaviour control (PBC) and intention towards dental visits for CWHL. Dental visits were measured by asking whether their children had a dental visit within the last 12 months. Data were analysed using SPSS for descriptive and bivariate analyses. The significance level was set as p < .05. Partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyse measurement and structural TPB models.

Results: A total of 254 mothers participated in this study. The final TPB model explained 35.4% and 9.2% of the variance in mothers' intention and behaviour towards their children's dental visits, respectively. Of all the included constructs from the TPB model, only PBC was significantly associated with intention and behaviour (p < .05). The mother's attitude and subjective norms did not significantly predict intention (p > .05). Intention did not significantly predict the mother's behaviour towards children's dental visits (p > .05).

Conclusion: The TPB model revealed a construct associated with dental visit intention and behaviour in CWHL. This study suggested that effective promotion intervention should focus on the mother's PBC to increase parents' adherence to preventive dental visits in CWHL in Indonesia.