Satisfaction with outreach dental care among long-term care users

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the relationships between socio-demographic characteristics, dental treatments received and the short-term satisfaction with outreach dental care program (ODCP) among elders using long-term care in Hong Kong. Methods: Long-term care users, who were 60 years or older and enrolled in ODCP were recruited. Socio-demographic characteristics (age, gender, types of long-term care services used and education level) were obtained at baseline. Dental treatments received in the ODCP were recorded. Short-term satisfaction was explored 2 months post-treatment by a modified Dental Satisfaction Questionnaire (mDSQ) using a 5-point Likert scale. Data were analyzed by independent 2-sample t-test and one-way ANOVA or Welch’s ANOVA. Results: 418 elders (mean age: 83.7 ±7.9 years; 137 men and 281 women) participated in the study. Most (89.7%) of them used residential care services and 43.8% had not received any formal education. The response rate of the mDSQ was 87.8%. Elders gave neutral to somewhat positive ratings regarding satisfaction with aspects of the environment, quality of care and pain management of ODCP. The highest satisfaction score (mean: 3.82, SD: 0.70) was found in the item “dentists check everything” while the lowest score (mean: 2.87, SD: 0.83) was in the item “dentists relieve most problems”. The general satisfaction score showed sufficient internal consistency in interpreting subscale items (Cronbach’s α = 0.80). Elders using residential care provided by private homes were more satisfied with ODCP than their counterparts living in subvented residential homes (p=0.008). As for dental treatments, denture wearers (N=214) who received comprehensive treatments including denture cleansing (N=89, 41.6%) were more satisfied compared with those who only had theire denture(s) cleaned (N=84, 39.3%) (p=0.017). Conclusions: In general, the elderly subjects were satisfied with the ODCP and their satisfaction was associated with some of their background factors and dental treatments received.