Coping Strategies for Oral Health Problems by People with Schizophrenia

Persons with schizophrenia are particularity susceptible to poor oral health. Symptoms of schizophrenia often affect oral health behaviors and lifestyle. The aim was to explore coping strategies used by people with schizophrenia in oral health in order to understand and to best involve them in the management of their own oral health in daily life.

This is systematic review reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statements. We included cross-sectional and longitudinal quantitative and qualitative studies that 1) examined coping strategies regarding oral health in persons with schizophrenia or 2) examined coping strategies were used in dental care. We included studies conducted with at least one PWS aged 18 years old more and without restriction on sex, socioeconomic status, or language.

The 8 studies included suggest that coping strategies depends on complex translation processes that can be either personal (e.g., psychological symptomatology, neuropsychological functioning to adversely affect hope, self-esteem, self-stigma, self-determination, sense of coherence, and resilience) and/or environmental factors (e.g., peer support and efficacy of rehabilitations programs). We further identified that the main factor influencing coping strategies was dental stress situation.

This review suggests that coping strategies play a crucial role in the recovery process for oral health of PWS. Translation processes in oral health should be more explored in the future to clarify the capacity of PWS to cope with essential self-care in oral health on daily life.