Aim: The aim of this project was to find the level of oral health literacy of parents of preschool age children regarding their child’s oral health. The primary objective was to improve the oral health status of preschoolers and to prevent early childhood caries. Methods: 117 participants (parents of preschoolers) completed a self-administered oral health literacy questionnaire. Data obtained from the study was analysed using a statistical package (SPSS). Firstly, descriptive analysis was undertaken generating tables and graphs of sociodemographic variables. Later, associations between oral health literacy and sociodemographic variables were identified and also relation between parents’ oral health literacy and their attitude towards water fluoridation in Christchurch was identified using bivariate and multivariate analysis. Psychometric analysis was generated to test validity and reliability of the oral health literacy questionnaire. Results: In the total sample, 38% of participants had poor oral health literacy regarding their child’s oral health. The results also indicated that there were associations present between parents’ oral health literacy and socio-demographic variables such as ethnicity, education and family income. Nearly half of the parents opted for water fluoridation in Christchurch. A strong association between parents’ oral health literacy and their attitude towards water fluoridation was identified. In the total sample, 40% of parents were not aware of need for first dental visit before the school age. Reliability was good for the developed oral health literacy instrument. Conclusions: This study of parents’ oral health literacy in Christchurch, New Zealand identified association of oral health literacy and socio-demographic variables which gives future guidance to improving oral health status of New Zealand children. The relation 6 between parents’ oral health literacy and their attitude towards water fluoridation was shown in this study. This result might be used in future water fluoridation surveys. Future studies are needed to examine health care provider’s perspective in improving parents’ oral health literacy and to tailor more effective public health interventions to improve parents’ oral health literacy.

Ce mémoire contribue à identifier les facteurs associés à l’occurrence de la diarrhée chez les enfants de moins de cinq ans en Haïti. Après une revue de la littérature sur les déterminants de la diarrhée infanto-juvénile dans les pays en développement, nommément Haïti, nous tirons profit de la mise en commun de quatre bases de données des Enquêtes démographiques et de santé pour nos analyses quantitatives (n = 14 481). Notre étude s’intéresse notamment à l’impact de l’eau potable améliorée, des toilettes améliorées et du réfrigérateur sur la diarrhée infanto-juvénile. Nous déterminons la robustesse des associations entre ces commodités et l’occurrence de la diarrhée par des modèles de régression logistique. La commodité la plus commune est l’eau potable améliorée (58%). La présence de plus d’une commodité est peu courante (17%). En moyenne, la prévalence de la diarrhée s’élève à 29%. L’eau potable améliorée et le réfrigérateur sont corrélés à une faible occurrence de la diarrhée chez les 24-59 mois et les toilettes améliorées à une faible occurrence chez les 1-5 et 12-23 mois. Les enfants de famille ne possédant qu’une commodité ne sont pas statistiquement différents des plus défavorisés, sauf chez les 24-59 mois. Enfin, nous ne trouvons pas de liens significatifs entre les commodités et la diarrhée chez les 6-11 mois. Nos résultats sont inédits pour Haïti, et soulignent, comme piste d’intervention en prévention de la diarrhée, la nécessité d’augmenter le nombre des commodités familiales, particulièrement les toilettes améliorées privées, qui limiteraient la contamination de l’eau et des aliments. / This master’s thesis contributes to the identification of factors linked to the occurrence of diarrhoea among children under five years of age in Haiti. Following a review of the literature on predictors of childhood diarrhoea in low-income countries, namely Haiti, we take advantage of four databases from Demographic and Health Surveys (n = 14 481) to conduct our quantitative analyses. Our study is concerned mainly with the impact of improved drinking water, improved sanitations and refrigerator on childhood diarrhoea. We use logistic regression models to assess the robustness of the associations between selected factors and the occurrence of diarrhoea among children under five years of age. The most common commodity was improved drinking water (58%). The presence of more than one commodity was infrequent (17%). On average, diarrhoea prevalence was 29%. The improved drinking water and the ownership of a refrigerator were associated with a decreased occurrence of diarrhoea for children aged 24-59 months. The improved sanitation was related to a decreased in the occurrence of diarrhea for children 1-5 and 12-23 months. Children whose family owned only one commodity were not statistically different from the most disadvantaged children, except for children 24-59 months. Lastly, there was no significant link between any commodity and diarrhoea for children 6-11 months. In the context of Haiti, these new findings highlight, as an intervention path in the prevention of childhood diarrhoea, the importance of increasing the number of commodities within families, and, more specifically, improving sanitations which may help reduce the contamination of water and food.