Effective factors on oral health behaviors of 12-year-old children in cities and villages of Iran: a path analysis

Statement of the Problem: Oral and general health status depends on several factors such as the individual's personal attributes, behaviors, and perceptions

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the factors affecting the oral health-related behaviors in 12-year-old children

Materials and Method: This cross-sectional study was based on the data obtained from 1554 students being 12 years old and from five provinces in Iran. The data were collected with a culturally adapted questionnaire about the students' demo-graphic characteristics, knowledge, attitudes, and practice [KAP]. Path analysis was conducted to evaluate the effect of these factors on oral health-related behav-iors in urban and rural areas

Results: Based on the findings, 61.1% of the samples resided in urban and 38.9% in rural areas. The mean scores were relatively good for knowledge [74.1+/-21.1%] and attitudes [72.6+/-21.1%], but unsatisfactory for oral health practice [51.8+/-12%]. Having measured the correlation between the independent variables and oral health-related behaviors, the province of residence and the parents' education and job had the most significant correlations. Behavioral biases were seen in all dimen-sions of practice such as brushing habits, dental visits, and diet. In urban areas, 30% and in rural areas 49% of oral health behaviors were directly related to knowledge and attitudes. All of the calculated effects exhibited significant differ-ences from zero [p< 0.0001]

Conclusion: Path analysis identified some direct and indirect factors influencing the children's oral health-related behaviors. Factors included in this model could only justify a part of oral health behaviors. Thus, other educational models should be considered based on the psychology or social learning theories

[ experience of students in medical sciences in their studies abroad in recent years]

Background and Objective: Scholarship is of such a great importance that even the developed countries pay special attention to it, while in developing countries it has been left unattended and there is no appropriate management to benefit from the its advantages. For this, scholarship has to be considered more seriously in the planning system of the country in order to achieve the highest yield beside all expenses

Methods: Using registered documents as one of the best information sources, 366 students awarded scholarship between1997-2003 were enrolled into the study. Student's personal information at the time of going abroad, scholarship granted university, local university and students' major and duration of study were considered as useful information and excluded carefully from electronic and paper documents under the cooperation of the scholarship office of Ministry of Health and Medical Education. Results: Most of the students were studying in European countries [69.7%] and Australian and Oceania universities [12.6%]. The average duration of study was [+/-0.46] 4.07 years for PhD and [+/- 0.54] 5.12 years for clinical specialty candidates showing a significant difference between the two groups [P‹ 0.001]. However, the noticeable point is that non-returning rate has been more than average for students who have received scholarship from those universities and also the ministry, while scholarship holders from level three universities were successful in science generating

Conclusion: The highest number of awarded scholarships belonged to the large universities in the country and based on the available information it is difficult to judge whether scholarship awarding has been distributed fairly among universities or not?