Application of self-efficacy theory in dental clinical practice

• Published in: Oral diseases 2010-11, Vol.16 (8), p.747-752
• Main Authors: Kakudate, N, Morita, M, Fukuhara, S, Sugai, M, Nagayama, M, Kawanami, M, Chiba, I
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Affect; Attitude to Health; behavioural science; Dentist-Patient Relations; Dentistry; Health Behavior; Humans; Learning; Oral Health; Oral Hygiene; oral self-care; Patient Education as Topic; periodontal disease; Persuasive Communication; Self Care; Self Efficacy
• ISSN: 1354-523X; 1601-0825
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1601-0825.2010.01703.x

Oral Diseases (2010) 16, 747–752 In clinical practice, self‐efficacy refers to how certain a patient feels about his or her ability to take the necessary action to improve the indicators and maintenance of health. It is assumed that the prognosis for patient behaviour can be improved by assessing the proficiency of their self‐efficacy through providing psychoeducational instructions adapted for individual patients, and promoting behavioural change for self‐care. Therefore, accurate assessment of self‐efficacy is an important key in daily clinical preventive care. The previous research showed that the self‐efficacy scale scores predicted patient behaviour in periodontal patients and mother’s behaviour in paediatric dental practice. Self‐efficacy belief is constructed from four principal sources of information: enactive mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological and affective states. Thus, self‐efficacy can be enhanced by the intervention exploiting these sources. The previous studies revealed that behavioural interventions to enhance self‐efficacy improved oral‐care behaviour of patients. Therefore, assessment and enhancement of oral‐care specific self‐efficacy is important to promote behaviour modification in clinical dental practice. However, more researches are needed to evaluate the suitability of the intervention method.