Elder abuse and oral health care providers: an intervention to increase knowledge and self-perceived likelihood to report.
The objective of this study was to ascertain whether a symposium on elder abuse raises the level of knowledge and the self-reported likelihood to report elder abuse among licensed oral health care providers. 130 dentists, hygienists, and assistants voluntarily attended a 4-hour training symposium and completed both pre- and postsurveys testing their level of knowledge. Results by statistical analyses, using repeated measurements, Wilcoxon signed-rank test for nonparametric data, showed increases in awareness of reporting process, knowledge/awareness of elder abuse, knowledge of mandated reporter requirements, and comfort levels with recognizing signs and symptoms of elder abuse and neglect. In conclusion, a symposium can increase the self-reported likelihood of reporting elder abuse.
Department of Gerontology, College of Health and Human Services, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA. j.sugita5@gmail.com
Julie A
JA
Sugita
Mario D
MD
Garrett
D000368:Aged; D003812:Dentist-Patient Relations; D003815:Dentists; D004552:Elder Abuse / Q000175:diagnosis*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D019221:Mandatory Reporting