Premium
Family member and guardian acceptance of dental services for nursing home residents
Author(s) -
Warren John J.,
Hand Jed S.,
Kambhu Peter P.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
special care in dentistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.328
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1754-4505
pISSN - 0275-1879
DOI - 10.1111/j.1754-4505.1992.tb00461.x
Subject(s) - guardian , medicine , next of kin , nursing homes , family member , nursing , legal guardian , dental care , family medicine , gerontology , archaeology , political science , law , history
The decision to utilize dental treatment often rests with a nursing home resident's family member or guardian, and factors associated with family member/guardian acceptance of dental services for residents have not been identified This paper reports the results of a study which found that nearly 66% of nursing home residents' next of kin identified themselves as being primarily responsible for making health care decisions for the residents. Among these 109 resident/ next of kin pairs, utilization of dental services by the residents was associated with younger next of kin, next of kin with higher levels of education, and next of kin who perceived dental need for the resident. In addition, residents who were female, physically mobile, not mentally alert, dentate, and had fewer years of education had dental services accepted for them at a higher rate than did residents who were male, physically immobile, alert, edentulous, or had more years of education. Findings suggest that more effort should be directed at educating the next of kin of nursing home residents in the value of dental care among the elderly.