Exploring the views of relatives of frail elderly patients about participating in a geriatric dentistry program

The objective of this research was to explore whether accessing these services had an impact on the lives of the patients’ relatives. Data was collected through semi‐structured, face‐to‐face, audio‐recorded interviews with family members of 12 GDP patients. A criterion sampling method was used to select the interviewed family. Interview transcription and data coding procedures were conducted following Saldaña. NVivo software was used to code and organize the transcripts. Data analysis followed a qualitative thematic analysis. Final analysis shows that patient relatives are worried about their relatives’ oral health. They believe that it is difficult to find private dentists with geriatric expertise and to make appointments for their family members in private practice. In addition, they report that the GDP made their life less stressful and relieved the burden of setting up appointments for their relatives. Thus, it is expected that a similar program may positively affect the lives of patient relatives by improving access to dental care services.

Source: Special Care in Dentistry - December 31, 2016 Category: Dentistry Authors: Diego Machado Ardenghi, Chris Wyatt Tags: ARTICLE Source Type: research