Sources of Oral Health Activities Among Croatian University Students—A Pilot Study

<b>Background:</b> This cross-sectional designed study aimed to identify the sources of oral health activities (OHA) by introducing a new OHA sources questionnaire (OHAQ-S). <b>Methods:</b> The OHAQ-S was developed from a sample of 658 university students and included measurements from nine sources: scales for <i>parents</i>, <i>Dental medical doctors (DMD</i><i>s)</i>, and <i>primary school</i> sources, as well as single-item measures for other sources. Using QHAQ-S measures, gender differences, determinants of OH activities, and differences between <i>OH types</i> were analysed. <b>Results:</b> Gender differences were observed in five OH sources (<i>university, high school</i>, <i>self-learning</i>, <i>friends,</i> and <i>kindergarten</i>). In both female and male subsamples, <i>primary sources</i> such as <i>parents</i> and <i>DMD</i> predicted overall OH activities, though with different secondary sources. In the female subsample, some differences in OHAQ-S sources appeared between the four OH types. The <i>excellent OH type</i> most notably differed from others by having higher reported incidence of <i>self-learning-dental floss usage</i> and <i>DMD sources</i>-and marginally higher reported use of <i>university</i> and <i>parental sources</i>. In the male subsample, multiple differences in OHAQ-S sources were found among the four OH types. The <i>excellent OH type</i> most distinguished itself by reporting higher levels of <i>DMD</i>, <i>self-learning-dental floss usage</i>, <i>university-acquired OH knowledge</i>, <i>parental</i>, <i>and media and internet-health journal sources</i>. <b>Conclusions:</b> Female students have differently expressed and more-pronounced OHA sources relative to male students and some sources encountered earlier (<i>kindergarten</i> and <i>high school</i> sources), and "independent" learning sources (<i>self-learning</i> versus <i>friends sources</i>). In both subsamples, predictive relationships of OHAQ-S measures with <i>overall OH activities</i> were verified. The findings on the elements of the discriminative and predictive validity of the pilot version of the questionnaire show that the OHAQ-S questionnaire represents a quality basis for constructing a questionnaire on sources of OH activities.