The Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of the Caregivers about Oral Health Care, at Centers for Intellectually Disabled, in Southern Region of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Oral health is perhaps the most neglected aspect of healthcare for persons living in rehabilitation centers, compared to the general population. The caregivers play a vital role in administering daily oral care to residents in rehabilitation centers: The aim of the present questionnaire-based study was to evaluate the caregivers’ knowledge, attitude and practices towards oral healthcare at centers for the intellectually disabled in the Southern region of Saudi Arabia (SA). The present study was designed as a cross-sectional one-point time survey. The samples were selected by using a non-probability convenience sampling method. The self-administered closed-ended questionnaire comprised of 22 items divided into four sections, which was designed to elicit the demographic information, awareness of oral care, attitude towards oral health and practice of the oral healthcare regime among the participants. Of the164 participants, 53.0% and 47.0% were male and female, respectively. Most of the participants—54.9%—were between 30–39 years of age. Participants were almost equally distributed between educational groups, and about 87% had more than 2 years of experience. A brief overview showed a fair level of knowledge and attitude among 61.6% and 58.5% of respondents, respectively. Participants with an education level above that of high school showed good knowledge and attitude scores (p < 0.05), whereas females showed better attitude scores compared to the males (p < 0.05). Respondents mentioned the difficulties they faced while treating the subjects. The special healthcare workers generally had acceptable oral health knowledge and practices. Caregivers who had lower education levels should be advised for training programs that addressed the importance of oral health services.

Burden and Coping Mechanisms among Caregiver for Old Adult with advanced illness.

“…In the same vein, a slightly higher percentage was indicated by the study of (70) conducted in Italy, which revealed that approximately three-quarters affirmed not knowing the disease, and with a lower percentage, approximately one-quarter aware of the diseases. This contradicts the findings of a study conducted in Saudi Arabia by (71) which found that one-quarter of caregivers had a poor level of knowledge, three-fifths had a reasonable level of knowledge, and one-fifth had a strong level of knowledge.…”

Dental Health Care Influence on Dental Hygiene of Elementary School Children

“…This can be done by providing assistance to students so that slowly other students will follow the behavior of maintaining dental health fully and consciously, because by seeing, listening and interacting, students will be able to respond to what they get and manifest it in practice or action (Apesteguia, Huck, Oechssler, Weidenholzer, & Weidenholzer, 2018). Research by Abullais, et al, (2020) and Ahamed et al, (2015) said that adherence was also influenced by gender where adherence to dental health maintenance of female participants was better than that of male participants.…”

Knowledge of Students as Orthodontic Users in Maintaining Dental and Oral Hygiene

“…Pengetahuan yang tinggi akan menujukkan perilaku yang positif dalam melakukan perawatan gigi, dan sebaliknya apabila pengetahuan dari suatu individu kurang baik, maka akan tercermin dari perilakunya dalam menjaga kesehatan gigi [21]. Maka, mengembangkan strategi promosi kesehatan gigi dan mulut yang efektif dalam suatu komunitasi di mana pun berada harus didasarkan pada pemahaman tentang kebutuhan khusus suatu komunitasi tersebut [22].…”