Factors Related with The Oral Hygiene Care for Bedridden Elders by Caregivers in Thawatchaburi district , Roi-Et Province

Abstract

Purpose :  To describe the oral health status of  bedridden elders and analyze the factors related to oral hygiene care of bedridden elders by caregivers.
Design : A cross-sectional study
Materials and Methods : The sample was 62 elders and their caregivers in Thawatchaburi District who have qualifications matched with the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The data were collected by  data recording sheets of the elders and caregiver interview form about the elders’ oral hygiene care. The confidence test by Cronbach’s alpha method at 0.73 was also applied. The data analyzed by using  frequency, percentage, average, standard deviation, Chisquare and Fisher’s Exact test.
Main Findings : The Bedridden elders had more than 20 teeth (51.6%), (71.0%) had calculus ,(71.0%) had less than 4  of posterior occluding pairs, (30.6%) had teeth mobility and (24.2%) had oral ulcers. The elder factors significantly related to oral hygiene care behaviors of the bedridden elders were age, musculoskeletal disease, accidental disease, remaining teeth, mobility teeth,posterior occluding pairs, calculus and oral ulcers. Furthermore, it was also discovered that the factors of caregivers associated with their oral hygiene care behaviors to the elder patients were learning experience on provision of oral hygiene care to the elders and the attitudes of caregivers.
Conclusion and recommendations : Caregivers should be provided with correct advice for bedridden elders’ oral hygiene care with clear and intelligible format that could be applied practically including strengthening motivation and encouraging the caregivers by multidisciplinary cooperation for better life quality of the elders.