The correlations among oral health education experience, oral health behavior, self-efficacy and subjective oral health level of elderly in some area

Abstract

Objectives: This study was intended to provide resources for the development and operation of the elderly's oral health education programs by comparing the difference of oral health behavior, oral health care self-efficacy and oral health levels according to their oral health education experiences and by researching the correlation of oral Health Behavior, self-efficacy, subjective oral health level and oral health education experience. Methods: An interview survey using structured questionaries was done on 180 senior citizens older than 65 years old residing in some areas of Gyeonggi-do from April 19 to May 25, 2018. The data was analyzed with Chi-square, t-test, spearman correlation coefficient with the use of SPSS 20.0. Results: 1. Those who are older than 75 years old and have higher levels of education and finance have more experiences of oral health education. 2. Those who Conclusion: It is necessary to try to improve the elderly's oral health levels by motivating the importance of oral health care and changing their oral health behaviors positively with the implement of oral health education on the elderly. Especially, oral health education programs that are operated on the elderly should be planned with practical programs that can cause the change of their oral health behaviors and should be processed to reinforce oral health care self-efficacy. Furthermore, preventive treatments for the elderly such as oral health education, oral examination and scaling should be implemented systematically and continuously by policy.