Oral health care education and its effect on caregivers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices: A randomized controlled...

The population of older people as well as the number of dependent older people is steadily increasing. Those unable to live independently at home are being cared for in a range of settings. Practical training for nurses and auxiliary care staff has frequently been recommended as a way of improving oral health care for functionally dependent elderly.

To evaluate an oral health education program for the caretakers of institutionalized elderly.

The study was a cluster randomized intervention trial with an elderly home as the unit of randomization. Seven out of 65 elderly homes accommodating a total of 78 caretakers and 462 elderly residents were selected in Bangalore city, India, out of which 3 elderly homes were assigned to the intervention group and 4 to the control group. Oral health knowledge of caretakers was assessed using a pre-tested proforma; later, oral health education was provided to the caretakers of the intervention group. Oral health education was given at the end of 6 months to the caretakers of the control group. Chi-square test, Fisher exact test, and paired proportion test were used for statistical analysis.

There was significant improvement in the oral health knowledge of the caretakers from baseline in the interventional group.

The results of the present study showed that there was a significant improvement in the oral health knowledge among the caretakers. Educating the caretakers for assisting or enabling residents for maintaining oral hygiene is essential.