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Park, Cho, Ju, Lee, Oh, and Lee: Oral health care provided by nursing home employees to elderly residents
Original Article

J Korean Acad Oral Health 2013;37(4):200-207.

Published online: 12 December 2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.11149/jkaoh.2013.37.4.200

Oral health care provided by nursing home employees to elderly residents

So-Young Park1, Nam-In Cho1, Hyun-Jeong Ju1, Sun-Ho Lee1, Hyo-Won Oh1, 2, Heung-Soo Lee1, 2

1Department of Preventive and Public Health Dentistry, Wonkwang University College of Dentistry, Iksan, Korea

2Institute of Wonkwang Dental Research, Wonkwang University College of Dentistry, Iksan, Korea

Corresponding Author: Heung-Soo Lee Department of Preventive and Public Health Dentisty, Wonkwang University College of Dentistry, 460 Iksan-daero, Iksan 570-749, Korea Tel: +82-63-850-6851 Fax: +82-63-850-6851 E-mail: smagn@wonkwang.ac.kr

Received 30 August 2013       Revised 2 October 2013       Accepted 15 October 2013

Copyright © 2013 Journal of Korean Academy of Oral Health

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Objectives

The objective of this study was to investigate the oral health care behavior of nursing home employees caring for elderly residents.

Methods

Subjects were 480 nursing home workers living in Seoul recruited using convenience sampling. They completed a self-report survey.

Results

Results showed that 84.6% of respondents reporting having brushed the teeth of the elderly residents, while 81.7% brushed their dentures. Further, 62.3% reported having received at least one session of oral health care training. When asked to identify the problem with oral health care for the elderly residents, the most common answer was “lack of knowledge on oral health care.” Further, respondents most frequently found “proper way of brushing teeth” followed by “methods to prevent periodontal diseases” the oral care topics on which they needed information.

Conclusions

It is necessary to develop an oral health care education program for employees of nursing homes for elderly adults.

Keywords: Elderly, Employee, Nursing home, Oral health

References

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4. Park MS. Educational needs in the provision of oral care by nursing staff in long-term care facility for elderly people. J Korean Gerontol Nurs. 2010; 12:72–80.
5. Boehmer U, Kressin NR, Spiro A 3rd. Preventive dental behaviors and their association with oral health status in older white men. J Dent Res. 1999; 78:869–877.
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Table 1.
Socio-demographic characteristics of subjects
Variables Classification N (%)
Age (yrs) ≤39 73 (15.3)
40-49 233 (48.5)
≥50 174 (36.2)
Gender Male 82 (17.1)
Female 398 (82.9)
Occupation Assistant nurse 11 (2.3)
Nurse 15 (3.1)
Caregiver 407 (84.8)
Social worker 44 (9.1)
Others 3 (0.7)
Marital status Married 413 (86.0)
Single 53 (11.1)
Other 14 (2.9)
Religion Yes 377 (78.6)
No 103 (21.4)
Education level Middle school 38 (8.0)
High school 279 (58.0)
College 84 (17.5)
4 year college or higher 79 (16.5)
Monthly income (10,000 KRW) ≤140 94 (19.5)
150-190 210 (43.8)
≥200 176 (36.7)
Job tenure (yrs) ≤1 110 (23.7)
2-3 164 (35.3)
4-5 109 (23.5)
≥6 81 (17.5)
Table 2.
Oral health care behavior for elderly residents by elderly nursing home employees
Variables Classification N (%)
Experience of tooth brushing Yes 406 (84.6)
No 74 (15.4)
Time of tooth brushing* Before breakfast 28 (7.1)
After breakfast 250 (63.0)
After lunch 233 (58.7)
After dinner 231 (58.2)
Before going to bed 47 (11.8)
While washing the body 16 (4.0)
When time is available 34 (8.6)
Denture cleaning Yes 392 (81.7)
No 88 (18.3)
Use of denture cleaning solution Yes 213 (44.2)
No 268 (55.6)
Time of cleaning dentures* Before breakfast 177 (46.0)
After breakfast 80 (20.8)
After lunch 72 (18.7)
After dinner 103 (26.8)
Before going to bed 60 (15.6)
While washing the body 12 (3.1)
When time is available 17 (4.4)
Way of keeping dentures Keeping them in water 197 (41.8)
Keeping them in a cleaning solution 257 (54.6)
Leaving them dry in a container 5 (1.1)
Leaving them dry in paper 6 (1.3)
Keeping them in a desk drawer 2 (0.4)
Others 4 (0.8)

*Overlapped answers were included.

Table 3.
Experience of brushing teeth according to socio-demographic characteristics
Variables Classification Experience of tooth brushing P-value
Yes No
Age (yrs) ≤39 61 (83.6) 12 (16.4) 0.189
40-49 204 (87.5) 29 (12.5)
≥50 141 (80.9) 33 (19.1)
Gender Male 71 (86.6) 11 (13.4) 0.581
Female 335 (84.2) 63 (15.8)
Occupation Assistant nurse 10 (90.9) 1 (9.1) 0.337
Nurse 14 (93.3) 1 (6.7)
Caregiver 349 (85.7) 58 (14.3)
Social worker 34 (77.3) 10 (22.7)
Marital status Married 350 (84.7) 63 (15.3) 0.754
Single 44 (83.0) 9 (17.0)
Religion Yes 299 (83.8) 58 (16.2) 0.491
No 89 (86.5) 14 (13.5)
Education level Middle school 30 (78.9) 8 (21.1) 0.045
High school 233 (85.3) 41 (14.7)
College 65 (77.4) 19 (22.6)
4 year college or higher 73 (92.4) 6 (7.6)
Monthly income (10,000 KRW) ≤140 76 (80.6) 18 (19.4) 0.287
150-190 184 (87.6) 26 (12.4)
≥200 149 (84.6) 27 (15.4)
Job tenure (yrs) ≤1 101 (91.8) 9 (8.2) 0.001
2-3 141 (86.0) 23 (14.0)
4-5 99 (90.8) 10 (9.2)
≥6 51 (63.0) 30 (37.0)

The data were analysed by c2-test.

Table 4.
Experience of denture cleaning and using denture cleaning solution according to socio-demographic characteristics
Variables Classification Denture cleaning P-value Use of denture cleaning solution P-value
Yes No Yes No
Age (yrs) ≤39 58 (79.5) 15 (20.5) 0.356 52 (75.4) 17 (24.6) 0.001
40-49 185 (79.7) 47 (20.3) 112 (48.9) 117 (51.1)
≥50 147 (85.0) 26 (15.0) 91 (53.8) 78 (46.2)
Gender Male 71 (86.6) 11 (13.4) 0.206 41 (52.6) 37 (47.4) 0.695
Female 321 (80.7) 77 (19.3) 215 (55.0) 176 (45.0)
Occupation Assistant nurse 10 (90.9) 1 (9.1) 0.285 6 (54.5) 5 (45.5) 0.037
Nurse 11 (73.3) 4 (26.7) 9 (60.0) 6 (40.0)
Caregiver 332 (81.6) 75 (18.4) 226 (56.9) 171 (43.1)
Social worker 40 (90.9) 4 (9.1) 15 (34.1) 29 (65.9)
Marital status Married 333 (81.0) 78 (19.0) 0.726 223 (55.5) 179 (44.5) 0.544
Single 44 (83.0) 9 (17.0) 26 (51.0) 25 (49.0)
Religion Yes 287 (80.4) 70 (19.6) 0.153 187 (53.0) 166 (47.0) 0.870
No 90 (86.5) 14 (13.5) 51 (52.0) 47 (48.0)
Education level Middle school 33 (86.8) 5 (13.2) 0.240 13 (35.1) 24 (64.9) 0.018
High school 220 (79.1) 58 (20.9) 156 (57.4) 116 (42.6)
College 74 (88.1) 10 (11.9) 40 (48.2) 43 (51.8)
4 year college or higher 64 (81.0) 15 (19.0) 48 (63.2) 28 (36.8)
Monthly income (10,000 KRW) ≤140 52 (55.9) 41 (44.1) 0.001 49 (55.1) 40 (44.9) 0.976
150-190 182 (87.1) 27 (12.9) 114 (54.8) 94 (45.2)
≥200 160 (91.4) 15 (8.6) 91 (53.8) 78 (46.2)
Job tenure (yrs) ≤1 81 (73.6) 29 (26.4) 0.001 49 (46.2) 57 (53.8) 0.001
2-3 130 (79.3) 34 (20.7) 76 (48.1) 82 (51.9)
4-5 96 (88.1) 13 (11.9) 77 (71.3) 31 (28.7)
≥6 77 (95.1) 4 (4.9) 44 (54.3) 37 (45.7)

The data were analysed by c

2 -test.

Table 5.
Experience of oral health care education programs according to socio-demographic characteristics
Variables Classification Experience of education P-value
Yes No
Total 299 (62.3) 181 (37.7)
Age (yrs) ≤39 46 (63.0) 27 (37.0) 0.936
40-49 146 (62.9) 86 (37.1)
≥50 106 (61.3) 67 (38.7)
Gender Male 52 (63.4) 30 (36.6) 0.818
Female 247 (62.1) 151 (37.9)
Occupation Assistant nurse 6 (54.5) 5 (45.5) 0.188
Nurse 6 (40.0) 9 (60.0)
Caregiver 257 (63.1) 150 (36.9)
Social worker 31 (70.5) 13 (29.5)
Marital status Married 252 (61.3) 159 (38.7) 0.689
Single 34 (64.2) 19 (35.8)
Religion Yes 208 (58.3) 149 (41.7) 0.001
No 80 (76.9) 24 (23.1)
Education level Middle school 25 (65.8) 13 (34.2) 0.061
High school 159 (57.2) 119 (42.8)
College 58 (69.0) 26 (31.0)
4 year college or higher 56 (70.9) 23 (29.1)
Monthly income (10,000 KRW) ≤140 37 (39.8) 56 (60.2) 0.001
150-190 131 (62.7) 78 (37.3)
≥200 132 (75.4) 43 (24.6)
Job tenure (yrs) ≤1 67 (60.9) 43 (39.1) 0.551
2-3 103 (62.8) 61 (37.2)
4-5 76 (69.7) 33 (30.3)
≥6 52 (64.2) 29 (35.8)

The data were analysed by c2-test.

Table 6.
Practicing oral health care according to experience of completing oral health care education programs
Variables Tooth brushing P-value Denture cleaning P-value
Yes No Yes No
Experience of education Yes 269 (89.4) 32 (10.6) <0.001 275 (91.4) 26 (8.6) <0.001
No 139 (76.8) 42 (23.2) 119 (65.7) 62 (34.3)

The data were analysed by c2-test.

Table 7.
Problems and suggestions concerning oral health care
N (%)
Issues with oral health care Lack of oral health care knowledge 275 (57.9)
Lack of oral health care supplies and devices 272 (57.3)
Lack of cooperation from elderly nursing home residents 261 (54.9)
Lack of experience in practicing oral health care 255 (53.7)
Shortage of oral health care workers 128 (26.9)
Lowered morale because of low salary 82 (17.3)
Excessive workload 74 (15.6)
Suggestions for improved oral health care practices Provision of oral health care supplies 321 (67.0)
Provision of opportunities of receiving oral health care education sessions 283 (59.1)
Provision of exclusive caring time 239 (49.9)
Provision of specialized personnel 204 (42.6)
Improved oral health care facilities 155 (32.4)
Provision of volunteers 144 (30.1)
Knowledge necessary for oral health care The correct way of tooth-brushing 395 (82.3)
How to treat and prevent gingival diseases 323 (67.3)
How to select good oral health care supplies 221 (46.0)
How to clean and brush dentures 213 (44.4)
How to teach oral health care practices at home 121 (25.2)

How to cure bad breath 133 (23.5)

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