Abstract
BackgroundCaregivers’ oral health literacy (OHL) assessment results have been found to be related to their children’s oral health status. A further aspect of this relationship may be the role of caregivers’ reading habits.ObjectiveOur goal was to describe the relationship between caregivers’ multimodal (digital and print) and multilingual (English and Chinese) reading habits, their OHL, and their child’s oral health status in Hong Kong.MethodsA random sample of 301 child-caregiver dyads was recruited from kindergartens in Hong Kong. Data included sociodemographic information and caregivers’ self-reported digital print and reading habits across two languages (Chinese and English). Caregivers’ OHL levels were assessed by two locally developed and validated oral health literacy assessment tasks: Hong Kong Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Dentistry-30 (HKREALD-30) and the Hong Kong Oral Health Literacy Assessment Task for Pediatric Dentistry (HKOHLAT-P). Children’s oral health status was assessed using two measures: dental caries experience (number of decayed, missing, and filled teeth) and oral hygiene status (Visible Plaque Index).ResultsBivariate variations revealed significant differences in mean OHL scores between caregivers with different reading habits (P<.01). Correlations revealed significant associations between caregivers’ practices of reading multimodal (print/digital) and multilingual (English/Chinese) texts, their literacy levels, and their children’s oral health status (P<.01). Adjusting for sociodemographics and all other reading habits in the regression analysis, the caregivers' habit of reading digital and print texts was significantly retained in the final model. Regression analysis revealed significant associations between caregivers’ reading habits (digital Chinese) and their OHL word recognition scores: OR 5.00, 95% CI 1.10-3.65, P=.027. Significant associations were also evident for their OHL comprehension scores (digital Chinese: OR 2.30, 95% CI 1.30-4.20, P=.004; print Chinese: OR 2.50, 95% CI 1.40-4.30, P=.001). However, no significant associations were found between caregivers' reading habits and child’s oral health status (P>.05).ConclusionsCaregivers’ habits of reading print and digital Chinese texts are significantly associated with their OHL scores. Their reading habits, however, do not affect their children’s oral health status.
Highlights
Health literacy is a concept that is both old and new [1]
Caregivers’ habits of reading print and digital Chinese texts are significantly associated with their oral health literacy (OHL) scores
While the functionalist studies to date have documented clear connections between caregiver health literacy and child health outcomes [10], as well as between caregiver oral health literacy (OHL) and child oral health outcomes [11,12,13], more work needs to be done to understand the connection between caregiver literacy and child health status
Summary
Health literacy is a concept that is both old and new [1]. One oft-cited definition from the World Health Organization (WHO) indicates it to be “a representation of the cognitive and social skills which determine the motivation and ability of individuals to gain access to, understand and use information in ways which promote and maintain good health” [2]. Analogous critique has been leveled against early definitions of a more recent but associated concept—oral health literacy (OHL) [6,7,8,9]. There has been a shift in literate practices in recent years from traditional print texts to digital texts and multimodal forms (eg, hypertextual, audio-visual, gestural spatial). The combination of these new and old literate practices in highly diverse modern communities has given rise to the multiliteracies movement [14], which has examined the future of literacy and literacy pedagogy. Caregivers’ oral health literacy (OHL) assessment results have been found to be related to their children’s oral health status. A further aspect of this relationship may be the role of caregivers’ reading habits
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