PMID- 32354847
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20200504
LR  - 20200505
IS  - 1553-0205 (Electronic)
IS  - 1043-254X (Linking)
VI  - 94
IP  - 2
DP  - 2020 Apr
TI  - Measuring Oral Health Literacy of Refugees: Associations with Dental Care 
      Utilization and Oral Health Self-Efficacy.
PG  - 9-17
AB  - Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze associations between the oral 
      health literacy of refugees and two oral health outcomes: dental care utilization 
      and oral health self-efficacy.Methods: A convenience sample of refugees in the 
      greater Los Angeles area attending English as a second language (ESL) classes 
      sponsored by two refugee assistance organizations was used for this 
      cross-sectional, correlational study. Participants responded to a questionnaire 
      using items from the Health Literacy in Dentistry (HeLD) scale, in addition to 
      items concerning dental care utilization and oral health self-efficacy. 
      Descriptive statistics, chi-square and Fisher's Exact tests were used to analyze 
      results.Results: Sixty-two refugees volunteered to participate (n=62). A majority 
      of the respondents were female from Iraq or Syria, and selected the item "with 
      little difficulty" for all oral health literacy tasks. In regards to dental care 
      utilization, more than half of the respondents were considered high utilizers 
      (63%, n=34) meaning they had visited a dental office within the last year; while 
      a little more than one-third (37%, n=20), were low utilizers, indicating they had 
      either never been to a dental office or it had been more than one year since they 
      had dental treatment. Statistical analysis showed associations between oral 
      health literacy and dental care utilization. However, few associations between 
      oral health literacy and oral health self-efficacy were identified 
      (p=0.0045).Conclusions: Results support the provision of easily obtainable and 
      understandable oral health information to increase oral health literacy and 
      dental care utilization among refugee populations. Future research is needed to 
      examine the oral health literacy among refugees resettling in the United States.
CI  - Copyright (c) 2020 The American Dental Hygienists' Association.
FAU - Elkerdany, Amira
AU  - Elkerdany A
FAU - Gurenlian, JoAnn
AU  - Gurenlian J
FAU - Freudenthal, Jacqueline
AU  - Freudenthal J
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - United States
TA  - J Dent Hyg
JT  - Journal of dental hygiene : JDH
JID - 8902616
MH  - Cross-Sectional Studies
MH  - Dental Care
MH  - Female
MH  - *Health Literacy
MH  - Humans
MH  - Oral Health
MH  - *Refugees
MH  - Self Efficacy
MH  - Surveys and Questionnaires
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - dental care utilization
OT  - dental public health
OT  - health literacy
OT  - oral health literacy
OT  - oral health self-efficacy
OT  - refugees
EDAT- 2020/05/02 06:00
MHDA- 2020/05/06 06:00
CRDT- 2020/05/02 06:00
PHST- 2018/12/14 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2019/10/20 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2020/05/02 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2020/05/02 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2020/05/06 06:00 [medline]
AID - 94/2/9 [pii]
PST - ppublish
SO  - J Dent Hyg. 2020 Apr;94(2):9-17.