EHBM-Based Intervention on Collegians' Adherence to Oral Health Behaviors (EHBM- CAOHB) (RCT)

July 19, 2026 updated by: Haider Y. Abdulrazaq, University of Baghdad

Efficacy of the Expanded Health Belief Model-Based Intervention on Collegians' Adherence to Oral Health Behaviors: A Randomized Controlled Trial

This study aims to evaluation of collegians adherence to oral health behavers and to examine the efficacy of the Expanded Health Belief Model-based intervention in enhancing oral health behaviors among collegians.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The intersection of oral health and health beliefs represents a critical area in understanding why people adopt or neglect dental care behaviors. The Health Belief Model (HBM) has emerged as a foundational framework for explaining and promoting oral health behaviors, with significant research demonstrating its effectiveness in dental health education.

The Health Belief Model (HBM) effectively predicts and promotes oral health behaviors by targeting individuals' perceptions of disease risks and preventive actions. Research consistently links HBM constructs to improved brushing, flossing, and dental visits, aligning with your prior work on perceived severity, behavioral intention, and oral health.

Education using HBM significantly boosts all perceptions and behaviors: in one quasi-experimental study on 12-year-old girls, post-intervention daily flossing rose from 11% to 87%, correct brushing from 8% to 77%, and Oral Hygiene Index improved (mean 0.72 vs. 1.33 in controls). Another cross-sectional analysis of 748 university students found perceived benefits (e.g., fear of disease risk without check-ups) and floss/interdental brush use strongly predicted willingness for regular dental check-ups (OR 1.683 and 1.616).

Research has demonstrated that the HBM is highly applicable to understanding and promoting oral health behaviors. Studies show that educational interventions based on the HBM can significantly improve:

  • Tooth brushing frequency and technique: Participants who received HBM-based education showed increased correct brushing behaviors, with 76.9% brushing correctly compared to 0% in control groups.
  • Dental floss usage: Daily flossing increased dramatically from 10.9% to 87.2% in intervention groups, with 75.5% using correct flossing techniques.
  • Regular dental check-ups: Willingness to undergo regular dental examinations improved significantly, with 96.6% visiting a dentist within 4-6 months after HBM-based education.
  • Oral hygiene status: The Oral Hygiene Index improved from fair to good in 95.7% of participants receiving HBM-based interventions.

Recent research demonstrates that HBM-based interventions are especially effective for middle-aged and elderly individuals with type 2 diabetes, improving oral health knowledge, beliefs, and hygiene behaviors-particularly tooth brushing and flossing.

For University Students, Studies show that university students often have lower rates of regular dental check-ups (12.3-30.2%) than the general population, making them an important target for HBM-based interventions focused on building long-term preventive habits.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

166

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • Iraq
    • Basra Governorate
      • Basra, Basra Governorate, Iraq, 61003
        • Recruiting
        • Southern Technical University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria: The study included

  • Male and female students aged 18-25 years.
  • Enrolled as undergraduate students.
  • Willing to participate and provide informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria: Students were excluded if they were

  • Students with orthodontic appliances or removable prostheses.
  • Recent comprehensive dental treatment.
  • Female students which are pregnant or lactating.
  • Recent contribution in another oral-health behavioral trial or structured oral-health program.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention Group
Awareness lectures will be presented to the intervention group about the oral health, based on the expanded health belief model.
Behavioral: Intervention Group
The participants will be a male and female students enrolled in the Southern Technical University. the recommended sample size would be (72 for each group). As for sampling technique, simple random sampling will be used to select eligible participants, who will then be randomly assigned to either the intervention or control group. Then, awareness lectures will be presented to the intervention group about the oral health, based on the expanded health belief model.
Other Names:
  • Expanded Health Belief Model (EHBM) Based Behavioral Intervention for Oral Health
No Intervention: Control group.
Participants in this arm will receive routine college based health education only. This includes general information about healthy lifestyle. No structured behavioral change program or stage-based intervention will be provided.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Oral Health Behavior Score
Time Frame: 6 months
The primary outcome measure is the Collegians' Adherence to Oral Health Behaviors and determining whether there is a change resulting from receiving the Expanded Health Belief Model-based intervention. Oral health behavior will be assessed using a structured, validated five Likert scale questionnaire (The Expanded Health Belief Model Scales for Oral Health-Preventive Behaviors) which consists of Perceived Benefits, Perceived Barriers, Self-Efficacy, Subjective Norms, Health Motivation, Cues-To-Action, and Behavioral Intention. The Adherence to Oral Health Behaviors Score (which is a better outcome if it be higher) will be compared between the intervention and control groups to determine the effectiveness of the intervention program in improving adherence of college students to oral health behavior.
6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Baghdad

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

March 24, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

November 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 16, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 16, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

July 20, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 21, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 19, 2026

Last Verified

March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Oral Health Behaviors

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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