title: A theory-guided school-based intervention in order to improve adolescents' oral self-care: a cluster randomized trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the efficiency of social-cognitive theory-guided oral hygiene interventions in adolescents and to identify predictors of adolescents' self-care practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cluster randomized trial included 197 15- to 16-year-olds from two secondary schools. The intervention group received three face-to-face educational hands-on sessions facilitated by a dentist and adolescents worked in pairs. Individual dental plaque levels were measured at baseline, after intervention, at six and at 12 months. The structured questionnaire inquired about gender, family socio-economic status (baseline), and different social-cognitive domain variables (baseline, six, and 12 months).
  
  
  RESULTS
  At baseline, there were no statistically significant differences in dental plaque scores between the intervention and control groups (P = 0.183). At the 6-month follow-up, the intervention group had significantly less dental plaque than the control group (P = 0.047), but the intergroup difference in dental plaque levels was not significant at the 12-month follow-up (P = 0.400). Variations in dental plaque levels at different time periods were explained by the following predictors: family's socio-economic status, social-cognitive domain variables, group affiliation, and baseline plaque levels.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Social-cognitive theory-guided interventions improved oral self-care of adolescents in the short term. After the intervention was discontinued, the improvement in oral self-care of adolescents lasted for another 5 months.
authors: Department of Oral Health Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors: Jolanta
authors: J
authors: Aleksejūnienė
authors: Institute of Odontology, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
authors: Vilma
authors: V
authors: Brukienė
authors: Institute of Odontology, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
authors: Lina
authors: L
authors: Džiaugyte
authors: Institute of Odontology, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
authors: Vytautė
authors: V
authors: Pečiulienė
authors: Institute of Odontology, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
authors: Rūta
authors: R
authors: Bendinskaitė
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D006267:Health Education, Dental / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D012307:Risk Factors; D012572:School Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012648:Self Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires