Promoting oral health care among people living in residential aged care facilities: Perceptions of care staff

Abstract

This study highlighted the need for research and strategies that focus on capacity building care staff in oral health care and improving access of aged care residents to dental services.

Oral health in residential aged care: Perceptions of nurses and management staff

“…This study has highlighted that although staff were aware of existing training resources and acknowledged evidence‐based training programmes (Better Oral Health in Residential Care) (Lewis et al, ), evidence from this was not being translated into practice due to a fragmented oral care system in their RACF. Along with our previous findings (Villarosa et al, ), this study suggests a consensus among RACF staff that there is a need for awareness raising, mandatory training, interdisciplinary practice guidelines and clear referral pathways to ensure adequate oral health care in RACFs. Future research should explore integrating these strategies into existing programmes in Australia (like the ‘Better Oral Health in Residential Care’ and ‘Senior Smiles’) and assess their effectiveness in improving the needs of residents and staff at RACF’s.…”

“…There is limited evidence both in Australia and internationally in this particular area of aged care. As such, this study, along with our previous findings (Villarosa et al, 2018), has the potential to address this gap by providing a unique, rich insight into key contemporary challenges to the provision of oral health care to aged care residents and identify potential strategies to overcome these challenges, from all levels of the RACF workforce.…”

“…Getting different perspectives was important because in Australian RACFs, day‐to‐day oral care is normally provided by care staff (non‐registered nurses who have completed vocational training in nursing or aged care) under the direction of nursing staff. The findings investigating the perceptions of care staff in relation to oral health in RACF have been published elsewhere (Villarosa et al, ).…”

“…One study highlights that more attention needs to be paid to the organizational culture and values of the RACF and the level of communication in the organization to effect a change in oral healthcare practice (Thorne et al, 2001). Although research has explored the interplay of contextual issues affecting the provision of oral care in RACFs from a nursing and care staff perspective (De Visschere et al, 2015;Forsell et al, 2011;Gibney, Wright, Sharma, & Naganathan, 2015;Paryag, Rafeek, & Lewis, 2016;Villarosa et al, 2018), few studies specifically explore this from the perspective of management staff at the organizational level and contrast this with the perspectives of nursing staff at the front line (Lindqvist, Seleskog, Wårdh, & von Bültzingslöwen, 2013). Exploring both of these perspectives can provide a better understanding of potential barriers and facilitators to the implementation of oral health programmes in RACFs.…”

Can oral healthcare for older people be embedded into routine community aged care practice? A realist evaluation using normalisation process theory

“…While the one-off national 'train the trainer' program was successful in raising the profile of oral health in residential aged care, learnings have since highlighted that improving oral health care for older people involves more than staff education (Goodman et al, 2016;Wårdh et al, 2013;Villarosa et al, 2018). Contemporary literature on implementation science corroborates this proposing it is the interaction of multi-level factors such as the nature of the evidence, the context in which the evidence is introduced, and the way in which the implementation process is facilitated, that influence an organisation's capacity to successfully absorb and sustain knowledge use (Kitson et al, 1998;Rycroft-Malone et al, 2011).…”