title: Oral health care activities performed by caregivers for institutionalized elderly in Barcelona-Spain.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the frequency of brushing teeth and cleaning of dentures, performed by caregivers, for institutionalized elderly people.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study in a sample of 196 caregivers of 31 health centers in Barcelona. The dependent variables were frequency of dental brushing and frequency of cleaning of dentures of the elderly by caregivers. The independent variables were characteristics of caregivers and institutions. We performed bivariate and multivariate descriptive analyses. Robust Poisson regression models were fitted to determine factors associated with the dependent variables and to assess the strength of the association.
  
  
  RESULTS
  83% of caregivers were women, 79% worked on more than one shift, 42% worked only out of necessity, 92% were trained to care for elderly persons, 67% were trained in oral hygiene care for the elderly, and 73% recognized the existence of institutional protocols on oral health among residents. The variables explaining the lower frequency of brushing teeth by caregivers for the elderly, adjusted for the workload, were: no training in the care of elderly persons (PRa 1.7 CI95%: 1.6-1.8), not fully agreeing with the importance of oral health care of the elderly (PRa 2.5 CI95%: 1.5-4.1) and not knowing of the existence of oral health protocols (PRa 1.8 CI95% 1.2-2.6). The variables that explain the lower frequency of cleaning dentures, adjusted for the workload, were lack of training in elderly care (PRa 1.7 CI95%: 1.3-1.9) and not knowing of the existence of protocols (PRa 3.7 CI95%: 1.6-8.7).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The majority of caregivers perform activities of oral health care for the elderly at least once per day. The frequency of this care depends mainly on whether caregivers are trained to perform these activities, the importance given to oral health, the workload of caregivers and the existence of institutional protocols on oral health of institutionalized elderly persons.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, University of Chile - Service of Health Information Systems, Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. mcornejo@aspb.cat
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cornejo-Ovalle
authors.forename: Kenio
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Costa-de-Lima
authors.forename: Glória
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pérez
authors.forename: Carme
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Borrell
authors.forename: Elías
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Casals-Peidro
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003778:Dentures; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007326:Institutionalization; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009735:Nursing Homes; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013030:Spain; D014099:Toothbrushing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult