Dental Health Behavior in Elderly based on Demographic Characteristics Mauline Aulia Feresia1, Bramantoro Taufan2,*, Palupi Retno2 1Graduate Program of Oral and Dental Health, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Universitas Airlangga 2Department of Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia *Corresponding author: Taufan Bramantoro, Department of Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Jalan Mayjend. Prof. Dr. Moestopo 47, Surabaya, Indonesia. Email: taufan-b@fkg.unair.ac.id
Online published on 6 April, 2019. Abstract Elderly oral health is related to behavior maintenance and dental health improvement. Determinants factor of individual behavior are difficult to control because behavior is the result of various internal and external factors, therefore it is important to do a mapping of psychological factors that lead to dental health behavior to see dental health behavioral intentions in the elderly. Objective To analyze attitudes, subjective norms, perceptions of behavioral control of dental health behavioral intentions in the elderly based on demographic characteristics. Method This study is cross sectional study with observational analysis. Dental health behavior tendency is measured by interview method using the Theory of Planned Behavior model. Results Attitude (p = 0.000), subjective norms (p = 0.011), and perceptions of behavioral control (p = 0.000) significant towards dental health behavioral intention in the elderly. Conclusion The more positive attitude towards oral hygiene, the stronger subjective norms and the higher the perceptions of behavioral control, the greater the intention of the elderly to perform optimal oral hygiene behavior. Top Keywords Intentions of dental health behavior, elderly, demographic characteristics, theory of planned behavior. Top |