A Health Belief Model-Based Instrument for Assessing Factors Affecting Oral Health Behavior During Pregnancy

Maintaining optimal oral health behavior (OHB) during pregnancy could preserve short-term and long-term health of women and their children.
By applying the health belief model (HBM), this study aimed at developing and analyzing ýthe psychometric properties of an instrument ýevaluating pregnant women's beliefs ýregarding OHB.
In this instrument development study that carried out in Tehran (2015 - 2016), a preliminary 134-item questionnaire was developed, and ýcontent and face validity were assessed. The construct, convergent, discriminant, and ýcriterion-oriented validity of the questionnaire were evaluated through a pilot study ýon 221 pregnant women, attending public health centers, by performing ýconfirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Linear Regression analysis. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, composite reliability (CR) and intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) were calculated to examine reliability. ý
The mean age of participants was 27.5 ± 5.6 years with mean gestational age ýýof 21.5 ± 8.5 ýweeks. Based on CFA, the data fitted the HBM model. Root Mean Square Error of Approximation ý (RMSEA) was ýý0.052, Non-Normed Fit Index (NNFI) was 0.95, and Comparative Fit Index (CFI) was 0.96. The final HBM-based questionnaire with 79 items was associated with individual OHBý (P = 0.001 and B =ý 0.4ý). The overall Cronbach’s alpha was 0.94 and ICC ranged between 0.84 and 0.99.
This valid and reliable HBM-ýbased questionnaire may identify the potential ýbarriers of ý optimal OHB among pregnant women. ý