Nursing assistants' opinions of oral health care provision.

ABSTRACT

Understanding the attitudes and perceptions about oral health in nursing assistants (NAs) may facilitate efforts to improve daily oral care in long-term-care settings. By exploring the attitudes of individuals charged with daily oral care, we may gain insight into the level of care provided for the residents. To explore motivation for oral care by NAs, we developed a 28-item survey. The survey included descriptive information and a 20-item Likert-type instrument dealing with oral care for self-care and dependent individuals. Factor analysis was used to test the validity of the constructs intended to be measured by the survey items. The results indicated favorable responses to knowledge items and items related to the importance of oral health in general. However, the responses to questions related to amount of time to perform mouth care, the risk of being bitten by a resident, resident cooperation, and myths about oral health in aging revealed significant variation by NAs descriptive variables. An understanding of the implications of NAs' perceptions, values, and knowledge may provide impetus for new strategies for improving oral health and daily care in long-term-care facilities.