Developing a Questionnaire to Assess the Perception, Knowledge, And Attitude of Nursing Students in Providing Oral Health Care to Older People, And Associated Influential Factors

Abstract:- Objective: Developing a questionnaire to assess the perception, knowledge, and attitude of nursing students in providing oral health care to older people, and associated influential factors. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions to dental services have had a notable impact on the increase in older people’s oral and associated systemic health problems, impacting their quality of life. Though COVID-19 is of viral origin, many older people have developed severe complications from this virus due to bacterial superinfections associated with poor oral health. This pandemic has emphasised the need to include preventive oral health care in holistic nursing care for older people. Nurses play a leading role in holistic and interprofessional care that supports healthy ageing. Study design and methods: The questionnaire was developed following a standardised protocol consisting of a literature review, group discussions, and expert opinions. The 49-item questionnaire was then pilot tested through a cross-sectional online survey conducted with 26 participants in Australia who were recent nursing graduates or about to graduate with a Bachelor of Nursing degree. Results: The questionnaire demonstrated satisfactory content, face, and construct validity. The internal consistency (reliability) as measured by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, of the perception, knowledge, and attitude sections of the questionnaire was 0.82, 0.76, and 0.60, respectively. Discussion and conclusions: The questionnaire is suggested as a helpful beginning to systematically evaluate what nursing students have learned about oral health care for older adults in their Bachelor of Nursing programs, their perception and attitude about providing such care, and identifying influential factors such as age, gender, experience, nationality, and geographic location, and working in interprofessional teams. Completion of the questionnaire by a larger number of participants will be valuable to confirm these psychometric results. Impact: Using this questionnaire to identify gaps in the oral health education of nursing students will assist educators and increase students’ awareness of the association between oral and systemic health and prepare them for holistic and effective nursing practice. Nursing graduates skilled in providing oral health care through interprofessional practice can improve older people’s oral and systemic health.