요양보호사의 구강건강관리실태 및 구강건강관리교육 요구도 조사

Introduction: This study intended to identify the current oral health care status and demand of care workers for oral health education. Methods: A survey was distributed to care workers working in 11 nursing homes for older people located in the Chungcheongdo Province. Of those distributed, 217 questionnaires were collected and analyzed. To analyze the collected data, a frequency analysis, t-test, and one-way analysis of variance(ANOVA) were performed using SPSS version 18.0. Results: The demand for an educational course on the ‘Management of Oral Health Care for the Aged People’ had a score of 4.22 points(full marks were 5.0 points), whereas the score for the necessity for control of oral health was 4.29 points. The control of oral health for the aged people suffering dysphagia scored 4.27 points, whereas the control of oral health for older people who have dementia was 4.27 points. The score for a course on the nutritional control for aged people having difficulties in masticating foods was 4.27. Conclusion: It is clear that the development of educational courses and standardized manuals for care workers on aspects of oral health care is necessary. Therefore, it would be desirable to develop institutional infrastructure for dental hygienists to educate care workers on oral health.