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Stages and transitions in the development of tooth brushing skills in children of M exican immigrant families: a qualitative study
Author(s) -
Benadof Dafna,
Polk Deborah,
Documet Patricia
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of public health dentistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.64
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1752-7325
pISSN - 0022-4006
DOI - 10.1111/jphd.12108
Subject(s) - tooth brushing , immigration , oral hygiene , ethnic group , qualitative research , psychology , developmental psychology , exploratory research , early childhood caries , cognitive development , medicine , cognition , dentistry , gerontology , oral health , psychiatry , social science , brush , archaeology , toothbrush , sociology , anthropology , electrical engineering , history , engineering
Abstract Objectives Compared with white children, the oral health of L atino children in the U nited S tates is much worse. One factor contributing to oral health is tooth brushing. Few studies have addressed the formation of the tooth brushing habit in children, and only one of them studied a L atino population. The purpose of this study is to explore the development of the tooth brushing habit in children of M exican immigrant families and develop hypothesis based on its results. Methods This is an exploratory qualitative study, with a case study design based on 20 in‐depth interviews. Participants were M exican immigrant mothers living in P ittsburgh and P hiladelphia, PA . Participants had at least one child six‐years‐old or younger. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using qualitative analysis procedures. Results Four stages were identified in the tooth brushing learning process: initiation and entirely dependent tooth brushing, assisted tooth brushing, road to tooth brushing independence, and independent tooth brushing. Two factors influenced parents' teaching approaches: parents' perceptions of their child's achievement of physical, cognitive, and motor developmental milestones and parents' knowledge about oral hygiene. Conclusions We identified four distinct stages and found evidence to hypothesize that transitions from one stage to the next are triggered not by the age of the child but by parents' knowledge about oral hygiene and their perceptions of their child's achievement of physical, cognitive, and motor developmental milestones. Future quantitative research studies should be conducted to test this hypothesis in larger groups of L atinos as well as other ethnic groups.