Mothers’ Role in Dental Health Behaviors of Their Children in the Low-Income Community, Blitar Rural Area

This report is based on a study that aimed to identifies socio-cultural values in the field of health concerning the development and growth of oral health, as well as to reveal how to model knowledge about the health status of children's oral cavity with an appropriate gender perspective for low-income communities in Blitar Rural Area, East Java. This research was carried out in regencies in East Java, namely in low-income community areas in Blitar Regency. This study is a 'action research' in the sense that it employs qualitative methodologies supplemented by quantitative data and takes a gender perspective approach. Mothers with children under the age of five, as well as health professionals from Public Health Centres and local community leaders in low-income neighborhoods at the research locations, are the subjects of this study. Methods of data gathering included questionnaire interviews with mothers with children aged five to 100 in each district analyzed. The study's ultimate outcome is a model of women's empowerment in maximizing the growth and development of children in low-income areas in East Java from a gender viewpoint. According to the research, moms should be well-versed in oral health because they are the primary caregivers for their children. However, the impoverished women were so preoccupied with earning money that the children were neglected. To improve the oral health of children, it is vital to raise mothers' knowledge through frequent dental health education. This requires rules for socialization phases to optimize dental growth and development in children, as well as a "policy brief" or academic script to be incorporated into children's oral health policies