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Caregivers’ knowledge, attitudes, and oral health practices at long-term care facilities in KwaZulu-Natal

BACKGROUND: Vulnerable individuals residing at long-term care facilities require special oral health consideration. Examining concepts of oral health and hygiene practices of caregivers becomes essential for understanding the quality of oral health services provided to residents. AIM: This study exp...

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Autores principales: Balwanth, Sonam, Singh, Shenuka
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: AOSIS 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10091066/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37064651
http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/hsag.v28i0.2147
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author Balwanth, Sonam
Singh, Shenuka
author_facet Balwanth, Sonam
Singh, Shenuka
author_sort Balwanth, Sonam
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Vulnerable individuals residing at long-term care facilities require special oral health consideration. Examining concepts of oral health and hygiene practices of caregivers becomes essential for understanding the quality of oral health services provided to residents. AIM: This study explored the oral health–related knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of caregivers. SETTING: Long-term care facilities in the eThekwini District, KwaZulu-Natal. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted at seven long-term care facilities among 188 caregivers who completed a self-administered questionnaire. Data were collated and analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24. Inferential techniques included an analysis of variance (ANOVA) test. A p-value ≤ 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. RESULTS: Participants reported that dentures do not to be cleaned (n = 139; 73.9%). Participants (n = 70; 37.2%) reported that some medications have oral side effects. Most participants (n = 173; 92%) were optimistic about improving their oral health knowledge and skills. Participants (n = 108; 57.4%) only reported flossing when they had food trapped between their teeth. Few participants (n = 30; 16%) reported visiting the dentist every 6 months. CONCLUSION: Participants had a positive attitude to improve their oral health-related knowledge and practices. However, the study showed that there is a need to scale-up oral health education and training activities for caregivers. CONTRIBUTION: It is envisaged that findings of this study will demonstrate the importance of oral health-related knowledge among caregivers in providing better oral health care through improved attitudes and practices.
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spelling pubmed-100910662023-04-13 Caregivers’ knowledge, attitudes, and oral health practices at long-term care facilities in KwaZulu-Natal Balwanth, Sonam Singh, Shenuka Health SA Original Research BACKGROUND: Vulnerable individuals residing at long-term care facilities require special oral health consideration. Examining concepts of oral health and hygiene practices of caregivers becomes essential for understanding the quality of oral health services provided to residents. AIM: This study explored the oral health–related knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of caregivers. SETTING: Long-term care facilities in the eThekwini District, KwaZulu-Natal. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted at seven long-term care facilities among 188 caregivers who completed a self-administered questionnaire. Data were collated and analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24. Inferential techniques included an analysis of variance (ANOVA) test. A p-value ≤ 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. RESULTS: Participants reported that dentures do not to be cleaned (n = 139; 73.9%). Participants (n = 70; 37.2%) reported that some medications have oral side effects. Most participants (n = 173; 92%) were optimistic about improving their oral health knowledge and skills. Participants (n = 108; 57.4%) only reported flossing when they had food trapped between their teeth. Few participants (n = 30; 16%) reported visiting the dentist every 6 months. CONCLUSION: Participants had a positive attitude to improve their oral health-related knowledge and practices. However, the study showed that there is a need to scale-up oral health education and training activities for caregivers. CONTRIBUTION: It is envisaged that findings of this study will demonstrate the importance of oral health-related knowledge among caregivers in providing better oral health care through improved attitudes and practices. AOSIS 2023-03-03 /pmc/articles/PMC10091066/ /pubmed/37064651 http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/hsag.v28i0.2147 Text en © 2023. The Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee: AOSIS. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
spellingShingle Original Research
Balwanth, Sonam
Singh, Shenuka
Caregivers’ knowledge, attitudes, and oral health practices at long-term care facilities in KwaZulu-Natal
title Caregivers’ knowledge, attitudes, and oral health practices at long-term care facilities in KwaZulu-Natal
title_full Caregivers’ knowledge, attitudes, and oral health practices at long-term care facilities in KwaZulu-Natal
title_fullStr Caregivers’ knowledge, attitudes, and oral health practices at long-term care facilities in KwaZulu-Natal
title_full_unstemmed Caregivers’ knowledge, attitudes, and oral health practices at long-term care facilities in KwaZulu-Natal
title_short Caregivers’ knowledge, attitudes, and oral health practices at long-term care facilities in KwaZulu-Natal
title_sort caregivers’ knowledge, attitudes, and oral health practices at long-term care facilities in kwazulu-natal
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10091066/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37064651
http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/hsag.v28i0.2147
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