Nursing students’ attitudes and practices of oral health self-care

Abstract

Nurses are health role models, which includes oral health. A paucity of literature examining nurses’ attitudes and practices of their personal oral health status, which influences the oral care of patients exists. This study examined the attitudes to oral self-care practices among nursing students related to oral health promotion at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This study formed part of a larger project examining health science students’ attitudes and practices of oral health self-care at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. A cross sectional descriptive survey of 173 nursing students was conducted. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire adapted, with permission from the original authors, and analysed using the statistical software package for social sciences SPSS version 23.0 (IBM Corp., USA). Univariate descriptive statistics were employed including frequency and percentages for categorical data comparing responses by study year, using the Chi Square or Fisher’s exact test. Ethical approval was obtained (HSS/0139/016CA). Questionnaires were distributed to nursing students (n = 238), attaining a 73 per cent response rate (n = 173). Most respondents were female. Students perceived their own dental health to be good/excellent, but reported gum bleeds during dental flossing. Ninety nine per cent (n = 170) used toothpaste and a toothbrush, taking one to five minutes brushing twice daily, and replaced toothbrushes tri-monthly. The most used dental aid was toothpicks. More than half respondents had not visited a dentist in the preceding year and those that did, only did so when needed. The curriculum influenced respondents’ oral self-care practices. An awareness of the importance of oral health and its link to general health exists, as do inconsistencies in oral self-care practices. Guidelines for curriculum review needed to ensure oral disease prevention and health promotion are provided.

Keywords: Oral self-care, oral self-care attitudes, oral self-care practices, oral health care role modelling