Aspects of Expansive Learning in the Context of Healthy Ageing—A Formative Intervention between Dental Care and Municipal Healthcare

Abstract

There are great risks of diseases in the ageing population, and oral diseases are no exception. Poor oral health has profound negative impacts on the quality of life. It is therefore crucial to include the oral health perspective in the care for older adults. To meet the challenges associated with oral health in the ageing population, a formative intervention was launched. The intervention, called the TAIK project (=“Dental hygienist in a municipality organization”, in Swedish: Tandhygienist i kommunal verksamhet), meant that six dental hygienists served non-clinically as oral health consultants in five Swedish municipal organizations. The intervention formed an infrastructure and platform for work that benefits the ageing population and created a new basis for decisions regarding oral health in homecare. The aim of this paper is to explore how aspects of collaboration in an interprofessional and interorganizational intervention may lead to expansive learning. Expansive learning forms the theoretical framework of this study. The dental hygienists and the local head nurses were interviewed individually in-depth. Reflection documents from the dental hygienists were also part of the analyzed data. The conclusion is that the formative intervention was reliant of change which created a foundation for reciprocal understanding that led to expansive learning between dental care and municipal healthcare, with resilience and empowerment as crucial factors.

Oral Care Cards as a Support in Daily Oral Care of Frail Older Adults: Experiences and Perceptions of Professionals in Nursing and Dental Care—A Qualitative Study

“…Three nursing assistants worked as oral care aides with some responsibility for oral health care work at their wards [ 21 ] and were interviewed in a separate group due to their special knowledge and experiences of the oral care cards. In another group interview, a dental hygienist and a strategist in municipal health care were interviewed together, as they belonged in an already existing collaborative intervention in the municipality [ 22 ].…”

Outcomes of inter-organizational health planning between public dental care and municipal care organizations for older people: A study protocol for a randomized controlled study in Sweden

“…Guided by the KTA framework (40), the four first action phases describe already conducted actions, and the three last action phases describe planned actions, evaluations and a plan for implementationthe randomized controlled trials is described in the sixth phase. Phase I: Identifying the problem or gap that needs attention, and identifying, reviewing and selecting the knowledge that can solve that problem or gap Within a collaborative project between dental and municipal care organizations (in Swedish; "the TAIK-project"), an interprofessional infrastructure for learning at work and being able to plan, perform and follow up on an interorganizational level enabled healthy ageing (7,42,45). It was concluded that oral care cards were difficult to use within the dental care remuneration programme and that patient safety therefore needed improvement (7,8).…”

Decisional needs for older adults, home health care nurses and dental hygienists during team-based oral health assessments in ordinary home settings – a qualitative study

“…The phases were also integrated in the shared paper-based prototype for a new 'oral care card' on a digital platform. The prototype was developed based on previous studies (34,55). No prior educational efforts were conducted on how to implement the phases within the oral assessments and the paper-based prototype, and all phases were performed in collaboration decided within the teams.…”