A qualitative study of oral health knowledge among African Americans

Sherieda Muthra, Rhonda Hamilton, Katherine Leopold, Everett Dodson, Dale Mooney, Sherrie Flynt Wallington, Chiranjeev Dash and Lucile L Adams-Campbell

PLOS ONE, 2019, vol. 14, issue 7, 1-8

Abstract: Objectives: The purpose of this qualitative oral health needs assessment was to probe and better understand the oral health knowledge, beliefs, and barriers of District residents, particularly in DC wards where oral health disparities are most prevalent. Methods: Forty-eight (n = 48) participants were recruited for four focus groups. The focus group instrument consisted of a structured interview guide addressing the following topics: oral health history, perceived barriers to oral health, knowledge and perceptions about oral systemic health, and preferred message channels for receiving information on oral/dental health. Content analysis was performed using NVivo, a computerized, qualitative informatics tool. Results: The majority of participants in this study practiced both brushing and flossing in their daily dental routine and did not believe that tooth loss is a normal part of ageing. There was lack of knowledge on the connection between oral and systemic health, specifically impact of smoking, alcohol use, and sweets and sexual activity. Focus groups identified two main barriers to healthcare access–communication and affordability. Participants who had a dentist were satisfied and felt that their needs were met. Conclusion: Our findings indicate a need for educational intervention and improved communication from oral health providers to increase awareness of the impact of systemic health and risky behaviors can have on oral health.

Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0219426 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id= ... 19426&type=printable (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0219426

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219426

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS ONE from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by plosone ().