Improving the performance of pregnant women in oral and dental health based on the Health Belief Model

Physiological changes in the mother''s body during pregnancy cause more sensitivity of this group to dental and oral diseases which could have a significant impact on maternal and neonatal health. However، the frequent examinations during pregnancy are an opportunity for training oral and dental health to pregnant mothers.

This two-group experimental study was performed with pretest - posttest on 144 eligible pregnant women referred for controlling prenatal care to Mashhad Health Care Centers. Participants were randomly divided into two groups of intervention and control. Training sessions were held for the intervention group. Data were collected by demographic questionnaire and viewing performance questionnaire which was about brushing and flossing. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 11. 5 and using descriptive and analytical statistics. P

The results showed that before the intervention، the means and standard deviations of the mothers’ performance in experimental and control groups were not significantly different (P=0. 08). However، after the intervention، the mothers’ mean performance was significantly increased in the intervention group compared to the control group (P <0. 0001) and compared with the pre-intervention phase (P <0. 0001).

It seems that training based on health belief model can be considered as an effective and low-cost method to improve the performance of oral and dental health in pregnant women.