Measuring Oral Health Literacy for Nurses and Dental Assistants

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Objectives: to measure and compare level of oral health literacy (OHL), dental knowledge (DK) for dental assistants (DA) and nurses (MN) working at the King Abdulaziz University Medical and Dental Hospitals (KAUH and UDH), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Material and Methods: This study was conducted using a convenient sample. Participants were asked to fill-out a questionnaire about demographic data, oral health behavior, and dental services usage and to complete a previously validated DK test and Oral Health Literacy Instrument (OHLI). Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. Bivariate non-parametric tests followed by logistic regression were used to analyze the data (α=0.05).
Results: Forty-eight MN and 58 DA participated in this study with a mean age of 35 8.7 years. The majority of the participants were female (81%), non-Saudi (77%), and had college/university education or higher (90%). The mean OHLI and DK test scores for the DA were significantly higher than MN (p<0.001). DK test score was the only statistically significant predictor for the OHLI level at the multivariate level, as it whipped the association of the participants’ group (DA/MN), after controlling for the demographic variables.
Conclusion: This study sheds the light on the DK and OHL inadequacy among some of the MN at KAUH. More effort should be directed towards educating medical personnel about oral health by incorporating oral health-related materials in their curriculum and continuing education courses.

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