March 2013

Volume 30, Issue 1

Oral health literacy comparisons between Indigenous Australians and American Indians

Authors: L.M. Jamieson K. Divaris E.J. Parker J.Y. Lee
doi: 10.1922/CDH_3025Jamieson06

Abstract

Objectives: To compare oral health literacy (OHL) levels between two profoundly disadvantaged groups, Indigenous Australians and American Indians, and to explore differences in socio-demographic, dental service utilisation, self-reported oral health indicators, and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) correlates of OHL among the above. Methods: OHL was measured using REALD-30 among convenience samples of 468 Indigenous Australians (aged 17–72 years, 63% female) and 254 female American Indians (aged 18–57 years). Covariates included socio-demography, dental utilisation, self-reported oral health status (OHS), perceived treatment needs and OHRQoL (prevalence, severity and extent of OHIP-14 ‘impacts’). Descriptive and bivariate methods were used for data presentation and analysis, and between-sample comparisons relied upon empirical contrasts of sample-specific estimates and correlation coefficients. Results: OHL scores were: Indigenous Australians - 15.0 (95% CL=14.2, 15.8) and American Indians - 13.7 (95% CL=13.1, 14.4). In both populations, OHL strongly correlated with educational attainment, and was lower among participants with infrequent dental attendance and perceived restorative treatment needs. A significant inverse association between OHL and prevalence of OHRQoL impacts was found among American Indians (rho=-0.23; 95% CL=-0.34, -0.12) but not among Indigenous Australians. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that OHL levels were comparable between the two groups and lower compared to previously reported estimates among diverse populations. Although the patterns of association of OHL with most examined domains of correlates were similar between the two groups, this study found evidence of heterogeneity in the domains of self-reported OHS and OHRQoL. Key words: oral health literacy, oral health, Indigenous populations, Australian Indigenous, Native American, American Indian, quality of life

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Other articles in this issue

Article Pages Access
Editorial - The British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry at forty: our professional project 2-4 Download
Acknowledgement of Referees 5-5 Download
Dental Public Health in Action - Challenges encountered when conducting a dental health needs assessment of older people resident in care homes: experience from England 6-9 Download
Rare diseases with oral components: care course and quality of life 10-14 Download
Fluoridation and dental caries severity in young children treated under general anaesthesia: an analysis of treatment records in a 10-year case series 15-18 Download
Measuring determinants of oral health behaviour in parents of preschool children 19-25 Download
The self-reported oral health status and dental attendance of smokers and non-smokers 26-29 Download
Attitudes towards the use of fluorides for oral health among Islamic clerics in Kelantan Province, Malaysia 30-33 Download
The views of examiners on the use of intra-oral photographs to detect dental caries in epidemiological studies 34-38 Download
Caries experience and treatment need in adults with intellectual disabilities in two German regions 39-44 Download
Attitudes towards establishing a daily supervised school-based toothbrushing programme - determined by Q-sort methodology 45-51 Download
Oral health literacy comparisons between Indigenous Australians and American Indians 52-57 Download
Associations between oral health and height in an Indigenous Australian birth cohort 58-64 Download

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