March 2014

Objective: To assess the relationship between mothers’ Sense of Coherence (SOC) and oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) of 3-5 year old preschool children in Udupi Taluk. Participants: 388 mothers aged 24-48 years old and their preschool children. Basic research design: A cross sectional study of mother-child pairs, randomly selected from 8 preschools. Method: Information was obtained about mothers’ sociodemographic factors along with the short version (SOC 13) of Antonovsky’s sense of coherence scale and children’s OHRQoL using the early childhood oral health impact scale (ECOHIS). Chi-square tests and multivariate logistic regression were used for analysis. Main outcome measures: Mothers’ SOC and children’s OHRQoL. Results: Mothers’ SOC and fathers’ education were significantly associated with children’s OHRQoL in multivariate analysis. Children of mothers with high SOC were 12.9 times as likely to have high OHRQoL as mothers with low SOC (p<0.01). Children of fathers with college/university education were twice as likely to have high OHRQoL as those with primary education (p<0.05). Conclusion: Our results suggest that mother’s SOC could be a psychosocial determinant of the OHRQoL of their preschool children. Family environment should be considered when designing interventions to promote or improve the oral health as well as OHRQoL of preschool children. Key words: sense of coherence, children, oral health, quality of life, socioeconomic factors