Oral health practices and beliefs among caregivers of the dependent elderly

Abstract

Oral health practices and beliefs among caregivers of the dependent elderlyBackground: Caregivers deal with oral health care of the dependent elderly; however, this has a low priority among them, and their education in daily oral care is deficient. Therefore, studying the oral care practices as well as their oral health beliefs is important as these affect the quality of the oral care they perform. Objective: To compare formal and informal caregivers' oral care practices and oral health beliefs when taking care of severely dependent elderly. Material and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a convenience sample of 21 formal caregivers from a long-term residence and 18 informal caregivers from a local primary health care domiciliary programme. Caregivers were surveyed using a questionnaire designed to elicit oral care practices and oral health beliefs. The nursing Dental Coping Beliefs Scale questionnaire was translated and validated in Chile. Results: Significant differences were observed between formal and informal caregivers' performance of some oral health care practices. There were no significant differences between formal and informal caregivers' oral health beliefs. Conclusions: Although there are some differences in formal and informal caregivers' oral health care practices, we cannot state that one caregiver's performance is better than the other, in fact, negative oral health beliefs were found in both groups.

Oral health care activities performed by caregivers for Institutionalized elderly in Barcelona-Spain

“…Proper training of caregivers is critical, as it may either directly or indirectly influence the care of the elderly (10). Urrutia et al (24) analyzed a sample of 21 formal and 18 informal caregivers of dependent elderly, and observed significant differences between the implementation of some measures of oral health care between the two groups, although they did not find any significant differences between beliefs about oral health by comparing the same groups. The present investigation did not compare formal and informal caregivers.…”

Malaysian government dentists' experience, willingness and barriers in providing domiciliary care for elderly people

“…Dental nurses could be trained to deliver oral health promotion programme including educating the staff with basic knowledge in oral health and diseases including instructions on how to manage elderly patient's oral hygiene, denture cleanliness, diet and post‐treatment oral healthcare. This would be highly useful as carers often have limited oral health knowledge and skills which result in their inability to provide adequate oral healthcare for elderly people. If possible, oral health promotion programme should extend beyond basic knowledge in oral health and skills to include social, environmental and economic conditions that influence health.…”

A concept analysis of oral hygiene care in dependent older adults

“…However, oral care practices for dependent older patients internationally in countries including Japan, Singapore, Sweden, Australia, Brazil, Canada, the UK and the USA are said to be inadequate and non‐systematized, even when guidelines exist (MacEntee , Miegel & Wachtel , Garrido Urrutia et al . ). In part, this can be attributed to inconsistent understanding of the terminology.…”