[The Effectiveness of an Oral Care Education Program Based on Social Cognitive Theory in Institutional Nursing Aide...

Poor oral hygiene among residents of long-term care facilities impacts the health and well-being of these residents and increases care demands and healthcare costs. As nurse aides play a key role in the daily care of these residents, developing an effective oral care education program tailored for nurse aides of diverse backgrounds is essential.

This study was developed to examine the effects of an oral care education program based on Social Cognitive Theory in improving the oral-health-related knowledge, skills, and performance of nurse aides working in long-term care facilities.

A single-group, pre- and post-test, quasi-experimental design was employed. Convenience sampling was used to recruit and enroll 30 nursing aides and 30 residents from four long-term care facilities in Miaoli, Taiwan as participants. The educational intervention, entitled "Maintaining Health, Starting with the Teeth", comprises 570 minutes of instruction. Two and four weeks post-intervention, assessments were conducted on the oral care knowledge and skills of the participants. Data on the oral health of the resident participants were collected at four weeks post-intervention. During the intervention, a supportive oral care environment was established in the long-term care facilities that included oral care tools, educational materials, and standardized operating procedures. The generalized estimating equation method was used to analyze the effect of the intervention on the nursing aide participants' oral care knowledge and skills. The generalized estimation model was used to analyze the effectiveness of the intervention and control staff on oral care cognition and skills.

Thirty nursing aides (M = 36.8, SD = 8.5; 90% foreign) and 30 residents (M = 69.2, SD = 15.2; 56.7% male) were included in the study sample. The results showed the mean scores for oral care knowledge and skills of the nursing aide participants had significantly improved at both the second and fourth post-intervention weeks compared to baseline. For the resident participants, mean scores on the oral health assessment tool and Plaque Index were significantly improved over baseline at the fourth post-intervention week.

Based on the results, the Social Cognitive Theory-based oral care education program has the potential to substantially enhance the oral health knowledge and skills of nursing aides and to consequently improve oral care outcomes for residents in long-term care settings. These findings provide valuable guidance for the design of more-effective oral care education initiatives in long-term care facilities.