Abstract
The purpose of this study is to analyze the oral health knowledge among workers at nursing homes, and needs to educate them on elderly oral care. A self-reported questionnaire was filled out by 241 workers at nursing homes in Gwangju and Jeonnam, Korea from May to June, 2016. The data were analyzed with the SPSS 19.0 program for independent t-test or one-way ANOVA analysis. The data analysis showed that workers at nursing homes had lower knowledge about periodontal diseases (65.1%) than about denture management (78.5%). The knowledge of periodontal disease and denture management of workers with experience of oral care education for elderly was significantly higher than that of non-experienced ones (p<0.01). On the question whether those workers should get oral health care education is necessary or not, respondents answered positively (They scored 4.10 points on the 5-point Likert scale from 1 point - Not at all to 5 points – definitely yes). It is necessary to provide elderly oral care education to workers at nursing homes. Furthermore, oral health professionals should be deployed for systematic and practical oral care for elderly.
Figures & Tables
Table 1. General characteristics of the subjects
