THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES, AND PRACTICE OF ORAL HEALTHCARE IN ABBOTTABAD, PAKISTAN.

Authors

  • Saveela Sadaqat Department of Biochemistry, M Islam Dental College, Gujranwala, Pakistan.
  • Abdul Manan Department of Oral Medicine, Islamic International Dental College, Islamabad, Pakistan.
  • Muhammad Adnan Iqbal Department of General Medicine, KMS Medical College , Sialkot, Pakistan.
  • Sadia Rashid Department of Physiology, Frontier Dental College, Abbottabad, Pakistan.
  • Syed Abir Hussain Department of Community Dentistry, Frontier Dental College, Abbottabad, Pakistan.
  • Annas Abdullah House Officer, Frontier Medical and Dental College, Abbottabad, Pakistan.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33279/jkcd.v16i01.986

Keywords:

Oral Health, Socioeconomic Factors, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health Behavior

Abstract

Objectives: This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of oral healthcare among patients in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Frontier Medical and Dental College, Abbottabad, from December 2024 to February 2025. A convenience sample of 250 participants was recruited. While this method was pragmatic, it limits the generalizability of the findings. Data were collected using a validated questionnaire adapted from Selvaraj et al. (2021). One-way ANOVA was used to assess associations, with post-hoc Bonferroni correction and eff ect size (η²) calculation.

Results: Education (F=5.10, df=3, 246, p=0.002, η²=0.059) and income (F=3.30, df=3, 246, p=0.019, η²=0.039) were significantly associated with knowledge scores. However, no significant associations were found between any SES variable and attitude or practice scores (p>0.05 for all).

Conclusion: While higher education and income were linked to better knowledge, this did not translate into better attitudes or practices. This disconnect highlights the need for public health interventions that target behavioral change directly, moving beyond knowledge dissemination to address the specifi c barriers in this population.

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Published

2026-03-31

How to Cite

Sadaqat, S. ., Manan, A. ., Iqbal, M. A., Rashid, S., Hussain, S. A., & Abdullah, A. (2026). THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES, AND PRACTICE OF ORAL HEALTHCARE IN ABBOTTABAD, PAKISTAN. JOURNAL OF KHYBER COLLEGE OF DENTISTRY, 16(01), 26–32. https://doi.org/10.33279/jkcd.v16i01.986

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 01 (2026): Journal of Khyber College of Dentistry

Section

Original Article

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Copyright (c) 2026 Saveela Sadaqat, Abdul Manan, Muhammad Adnan Iqbal, Sadia Rashid, Syed Abir Hussain, Annas Abdullah

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