Background: Elderly Hmong ethnic people in rural and remote communities in Thailand have a higher burden of oral health problems and poorer access to dental services than non-ethnic groups. Oral health offers clues about an individual’s overall health since problems in the mouth can affect the rest of the body.

Objective: To study the oral health care behaviors and the association between related factors and oral health care.

Materials and Methods: In the present study population-based, cross-sectional study, questionnaires were made by researchers from reviewing the literature, and in-depth interviews were conducted. Four hundred elderly Hmong people from rural areas located in lower northern Thailand participated in February 2021. First, the sample size was calculated by the Khazanie (1996) formula. Then, multi-stage random sampling using stratified random sampling of the Hmong populations in four provinces of northern Thailand was conducted along with simple random sampling of each province.

Results: Data analyses involved descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression was used for the data analyses using the stepwise method. The results showed that participants had an overall moderate level of oral health care behavior at 65.5%. Age, congenital disease, knowledge, perception of benefits, perceived barriers of oral disease, social support from family, and the use of oral herbs were predictive oral health care behaviors (p<0.05). Seven variables can predict the oral health care behaviors of elderly Hmong people at 50.3% (R²=0.503, adjusted R²=0.494).

Conclusion: The present study found that medical conditions had a negative effect on oral health care behaviors. These results could be used as guidelines to arrange additional activities for elderly Hmong people and integrate primary care alongside the oral health care. For further study, applying health promotion theories can be considered to encourage elderly Hmong people to exhibit positive behaviors. The use of an experimental design to assess the effects of a program focusing on the modification of seven predictors for changing oral health care behaviors among elderly Hmong people should also be considered.

Keywords: Influencing; Behavior; Oral health; Hmong; Ethnic groups; Elderly people; Rural areas

DOI: 10.35755/jmedassocthai.2022.10.13670

Received 31 January 2022 | Revised 29 April 2022 | Accepted 10 May 2022