Title
Dental fear and perceived oral health importance: A mediation analysis of courage as virtue
Authors
S Supriya*, Amra Ahsan & Rajbir Singh
Affiliation
Department of psychology, SGT University, Gurugram, Haryana, India; *Corresponding author
S Supriya - E - mail: 777supriyasharma@gmail.com
Amra Ahsan - E - mail: amra_fbsc@sgtuniversity.org
Rajbir Singh - E - mail: rajbirsinghmdu@gmail.com
Article Type
Research Article
Date
Received February 1, 2025; Revised February 28, 2025; Accepted February 28, 2025, Published February 28, 2025
Abstract
The impact of dental fear on the perceived importance of oral health is of interest to dentists. Hence, 100 participants with clinical diagnoses of dental caries and periodontal/gingival diseases were assessed. The dental fear survey comprised 20 items in the questionnaire addressing the different situations, associated feelings and reactions related to dental treatment. Perceived importance of oral health was recorded through 3 items of oral health belief questionnaire. Character strengths of courage were recorded through the Values in Action Inventory of Strength (VIA-IS) Questionnaire (40 items; 10 items belonging to each of the four character strengths of courage). Later, a mediation analysis was conducted to evaluate the direct effect of dental fear and its domains, as well as the mediating effect of courage and its domains (perseverance, honesty, zest, bravery) on perceived importance. The 'physiological arousal' and ‘avoidance of dentistry’ factors associated with dental fear negatively impact the perceived importance of oral health. Thus, virtue of courage has the potential to improve the perceived importance of oral health.
Keywords
Courage, dental fear, health behaviour, oral health behaviour, periodontitis
Citation
Supriya et al. Bioinformation 21(2): 231-239 (2025)
Edited by
Vini Mehta
ISSN
0973-2063
Publisher
License
This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
