Adolescents' health beliefs and acceptance of a novel preventive dental activity: a further note.
As part of two new school-based experiments, the dental health beliefs of adolescents were measured by questionnaires that emphasized personal and vicarious dental experiences. Premeasured beliefs showed zero order or negative relationships with adherence to at-home mouthrinsing in both a 1-year experiment and in the first year of a 2-year experiment; neither premeasured beliefs, nor new measures of beliefs obtained at the end of the first year, predicted adherence in the second year of the 2-year program. Behavior in the first year was inversely related to beliefs obtained at the end of that year. These new data, along with those collected as part of two earlier experiments which measured beliefs in a different manner, representing a total population of over 1500 subjects, cast doubt on the value of the Health Belief Model in either predicting or helping to explain behavior of adolescents in novel disease preventive programs.
D000293:Adolescent; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005460:Fluorides, Topical / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006801:Humans; D009067:Mouthwashes; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000379:methods*
D005460:Fluorides, Topical; D009067:Mouthwashes