Effect of multi‐professional education on the perceptions and awareness of oral health care among undergraduate nursing students in a nursing school

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of a study course in oral health care on the perceptions of nursing students. The course was designed and evaluated by a multi-professional team at a Japanese nursing school. Method:The subjects were 119 nursing students. They participated in the oral health course that comprised 45h of training in 4 years. These were designed and taught by oral health professionals, a certified speech-hearing therapist, and nurses. Questionnaires were distributed to subjects to compare their perceptions and awareness about oral health care before, in between, and after the courses.A chi-square test was used to compare the data. Results: After completing the courses, more than 95% of the participants were interested in the oral health care practice and expected to collaborate with oral health professionals after getting qualified. Additionally, they understood the effectiveness of oral health care for the prevention of aspiration pneumonia and perceived that oral health care should be provided to hospitalized patients and community-dwelling older adults. Their awareness of the need to learn techniques for tooth brushing support, salivary gland massage, oral management, swallowing training, removing tongue coating, and gargling, both in theory and practice, was significantly improved. Conclusion: Multi-professional education has the potential to improve the awareness of nursing students of oral health care and promote collaborative oral health care in the future. K E Y W O R D Sattitudes toward oral health, perceptions of oral health, collaborative oral health care, multiinterprofessional education, nursing students 786

Comparison of attitudes, awareness, and perceptions regarding oral healthcare between dental and nursing students before and after oral healthcare education

“…Case-based learning of oral healthcare practice for patients in paediatric, cancer, perioperative, convalescent, psychiatric, and palliative care wards in hospitals was introduced in nursing oral healthcare courses. The learning might be effective in improving awareness [26,30]. In addition, the nursing students had participated in clinical training at various wards in some hospitals from the first to fourth years during the study period, and they might have observed nurses' oral healthcare practice there.…”

“…The questionnaire was based on a previously developed questionnaire used to assess attitudes, awareness, and perceptions regarding oral healthcare among health professional students and healthcare workers [26,28].…”

“…However, since the students in the nursing school were receiving lectures online due to the COVID-19 pandemic during the second survey period, they were asked to complete the second questionnaire within 2 weeks via the internet. The data for the nursing students were partially from a previous study that investigated the effectiveness of oral healthcare courses in improving nursing students' attitudes and perceptions regarding oral healthcare [26].…”

“…However, several studies have reported that interest in and knowledge of oral healthcare are lower in health professional students, such as nursing and medical students, than in oral health professionals, which might be obstacles for collaboration with oral health professionals in oral healthcare practice [16][17][18][19][20]. Therefore, oral health professionals have tried to address these problems and have reported that multi-professional education is effective in improving attitudes and perceptions regarding oral healthcare among health professional students [21][22][23][24][25][26]. One study reported that a total of 45-h oral healthcare courses with case-based learning conducted by multiple professionals were effective in improving attitudes towards oral healthcare among nursing students and that almost all of the students hoped to practice collaborative oral healthcare post-qualification [26].…”

“…Therefore, oral health professionals have tried to address these problems and have reported that multi-professional education is effective in improving attitudes and perceptions regarding oral healthcare among health professional students [21][22][23][24][25][26]. One study reported that a total of 45-h oral healthcare courses with case-based learning conducted by multiple professionals were effective in improving attitudes towards oral healthcare among nursing students and that almost all of the students hoped to practice collaborative oral healthcare post-qualification [26].…”