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Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a group-based educational program on the awareness, attitudes, and confidence of nurses in the performance of oral health checkups.
Materials and methods: The subjects (n=184) were nurses who worked in a hospital and an affiliated long-term care facility in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The subjects were divided to an intervention group and a control group. The intervention group participated in the program, which was a combination of a lecture and training program on oral assessment and oral healthcare. To investigate the effect of the program on their awareness, attitudes, confidence, and performances of oral health checkups, questionnaire surveys were conducted before and one month after the intervention.
Results: Sixty-two nurses participated in the program. Fifty-five (88.7%) in the intervention group and 68 (84.0%) in the control group who completed both surveys were employed for the analysis. In the intervention group, there were significant differences between the baseline and follow-up in their awareness of detecting oral cancer and confidence in examining oral cleanliness (p<0.05). However, there were no positive changes in their attitudes toward and performance of oral health checkups in either group.
Conclusion: These results suggest in addition to the continuous participation of nurses in the program, the introduction of oral assessment tools into their oral healthcare protocols might be needed to promote the performance of oral health checkups in their facilities. We believe that these findings will help promote the performance of oral health checkups in hospitals and long-term care facilities.

Keywords: Oral health checkup; Oral assessment; Oral health education