Oral health practices and beliefs among caregivers of the dependent elderly
Author
dc.contributor.author
Garrido Urrutia, Constanza
Author
dc.contributor.author
Romo Ormazábal, Fernando Ernesto
es_CL
Author
dc.contributor.author
Espinoza Santander, Iris
es_CL
Author
dc.contributor.author
Medic Salvo, Darinka
es_CL
Admission date
dc.date.accessioned
2014-10-10T18:13:10Z
Available date
dc.date.available
2014-10-10T18:13:10Z
Publication date
dc.date.issued
2012
Cita de ítem
dc.identifier.citation
Gerodontology. 2012 Jun;29(2):e742-7
en_US
Identifier
dc.identifier.issn
1741-2358
Identifier
dc.identifier.other
doi: 10.1111/j.1741-2358.2011.00553.x
Identifier
dc.identifier.uri
https://repositorio.uchile.cl/handle/2250/123533
General note
dc.description
Artículo de publicación ISI
en_US
Abstract
dc.description.abstract
Background: 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.