• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.57-67
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• 2024

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the impact of care workers' knowledge of elderly oral health, education on elderly oral healthcare and behavioral needs, awareness of elderly oral healthcare, and actual practices in elderly oral healthcare. Furthermore, it explores the mediating effects of elderly oral healthcare education and behavioral needs on the relationship between awareness and practice. Methods: Data were collected from October 11 to December 29, 2023, from 172 certified care workers employed in nursing hospitals and other workplaces. For analyzing the data, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation, and hierarchical regression were conducted using SPSS Statistics 21.0. Results: Elderly oral health knowledge, education and behavioral needs, awareness, and practice were significantly higher among: those aged 51 years and older, female, primarily working in nursing hospitals, with a total career span of 10 years, higher job satisfaction, in organizations prioritizing elderly oral healthcare, and with superior education in elderly oral health. Elderly oral healthcare education and behavioral needs had partial mediating effects on the relationship between care workers' awareness and practice of elderly oral healthcare. Conclusions: The current practices and challenges in care workers' oral healthcare for the elderly will be analyzed, and recommendations and strategies for improving practices will be formulated.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.67-83
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• 2016

Ebola virus disease is a lethal viral hemorrhagic fever that has been boiling in sub-Saharan Africa since 1970s. Last year, The Ebola virus epidemic that has spread not only mainly in West Africa, but also in locals such as USA, Europe and the Antipodes via infected travelers, was brought up. Human-to-human transmission of Ebola virus disease is known only through direct contact with the blood, secretions, tissues or other bodily fluids, including saliva. Although there has not been reported infection cases in the dental healthcare settings, the fact that the infection of the Ebola virus may be made from human secretions such as saliva suggests that there is a high risk of infection for the Ebola virus of dental healthcare workers. Therefore, it is important dental healthcare workers to identify infection-suspected patients through the oral findings for infection prevention. This article will review the oral signs and symptoms of Ebola virus disease and discuss the pathogenesis, treatment and prevention. Furthermore, Infection control guidelines for oral healthcare workers are also proposed.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.341-347
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• 2020

This study was conducted to identify the oral function problems of workers according to Korean Standard Classification of Occupations (KSCO) and to provide evidentiary material to promote them to revise the Occupational Safety and Health Act so that workers can benefit from the collective oral healthcare project. For the research materials, it was used the 7th raw data (1st and 2nd) of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. It was examined the problems of chewing and speaking for the workers over 19 years old by KSCO. The connection between the types of workers and the problems of chewing and speaking has been confirmed (p<0.05). In order to improve the workers' oral healthcare, the collective oral healthcare project should be implemented. Therefore, the Occupational Safety and Health Act should be revised to hire professional health care manager with expertise, who will be host of the collective oral healthcare project.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2002

From the latter half of 20's century, the numbers of dental service workers and dental facilities are noticeably increased and dental patients want the higher-classed and specialized dental service. For the increased facilities and user's needs at dental college hospital, the present condition of dentistry, special features and the field study at dental college hospital are surveyed for this study. The purpose of this study is to provide a architectural planning data on the dental college hospital for keeping up with the development of dentistry.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.907-918
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• 2019

Objectives: This qualitative research was conducted to clearly find and clinically understand dental hygienists' work experience in order to lay the legal foundation for their work range and safe execution. Methods: From March 1 to April 30, 2019, seven study participants were selected and participated in-depth interviews. Phenomenological research methodology was applied for intensive analysis. Results: They performed jobs that required no professionalism, such as dental assistance, except for scaling. Dental hygienists, nurses' aids, and dental technicians performed the same jobs regardless of difficulty level and legal work range. Dental hygienists failed to accurately recognize their legal work range. Since there was the wide gap between their legal work range and actual work range, it was necessary to expand the work range in line with actual conditions. Conclusions: Given the results, it is necessary to conduct in-depth discussions within the dental circle to make dental hygienists' work execution in line with reality by improving and discussing a legal system for job assignment and expansion of workers. Therefore, it is required to form a plan for the many jobs dental hygienists executed in a clinical setting.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.311-321
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• 2018

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to provide basic data on the current status and ways to improve the dental hygiene society by investigating working conditions, working experience, dental institution types among some dental hygienists, and ways to improve the dental hygiene society. Methods: This study conducted an online survey to 450 graduates of the department of dental hygiene in colleges in Gyeonggi, Jeolla and Gangwon Provinces. This study got some help in securing the list of graduates from the heads of the departments. SPSS WIN 23.0 was used to analyze the data. Results: To questions on what is the most important thing in considering to apply for jobs, the highest proportion (39.1%) of respondents designated employee welfare, followed by improvement of clinical dental hygiene (34.0%), of welfare related contents (26.0%), and salary (19.5%). In the relationship between employee welfare and dental institution type and between employee welfare and work experience, employee welfare tend to rise with the increase of work years. In the relationship between the director and staff members, it was found that as work years accumulate, the relationship tends to decrease. The dental clinic with no more than five staff members showed the best relationship between the leader and co-workers, while employee welfare was the highest in the other types of clinics, and the differences were statistically significant. Conclusions: Dental hygienists need to make various efforts to improve their statuses as professionals. In order to secure a part of professionalism, it is necessary for them to make more efforts to realize the health-care professionals being promoted by the Dental Hygienists Association of Korea.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.361-368
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• 2023

Background: This study aims to investigate the perceptions of dentists and dental hygienists regarding quality dental job conditions and to identify differences in perceptions based on job type. Methods: As a result of conducting face-to-face and online surveys, data from a total of 132 people were analyzed. In order to investigate the perception of quality job conditions, the importance of a total of 13 items was investigated, and the work policies and job satisfaction of the current workplace were examined. Since the data did not follow a normal distribution, a non-parametric test, the Mann-Whitney U test, was performed. Results: Both dentists and dental hygienists perceived income and working hours to be of priority importance for quality job conditions. Dental hygienists valued holiday support and welfare, human relations, and personal development potential more than dentists (p<0.05). Looking at differences by job type, dental hygienists rated all conditions as more important than dentists except income, indicating a statistically significant difference (p<0.05). In terms of the work policies, 96.2% of the practices in the study were required to have the four types of social security contributions, but fewer had flexible working hours (19.7%), healthcare support (23.5%), and incentives (25.0%). Of the participants, 60.6% had parental leave available at their workplace, and dental hygienists had statistically significantly higher job satisfaction when parental leave was available (2.57 points) than when it was not (p<0.05). Conclusion: Quality dental jobs are an important factor in keeping workers happy and maintaining an efficient practice. Dental practice owners need to pay attention to the quality of jobs required by the dental workforce, provide flexible working hours and welfare programs such as parental leave, and create a workplace atmosphere and human resource management system that supports the use of these programs.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.240-247
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• 2020

Purpose: This study aimed to employ a Q-methodological approach that can understand the characteristics of each type according to the subjective structures of humans, to help understand type-specific characteristics and to provide a basis for creating the image of dental technicians among dental technology students based on the characteristics of each type. Methods: The Q-methodology was used for this study. 120 Q-statements were obtained from a qualitative survey of 120 students of the department of dental technology. To select the Q-sample, the Q-population was categorized by taking several repeated readings. The selected statements were reviewed and revised by experts and 33 Q-samples were finally selected. The data were then analyzed using the PQ method program. Results: Among 42 P specimens, 22 were classified into type 1, 9 types 2, and 11 types 3. "Type 1" recognizes the image of dental technicians positively and optimistically (Z=1.29) (Z=1.74), but it is named "self-development oriented" in the sense that steady self-development must be underpinned (Z=1.37). "Type 2" agreed strongly that they could work for a lifetime without age or gender discrimination (Z=2.09). This type was referred to as "professional-oriented" because the recognition of dental technicians is more focused on "professional." "Type 3" was tagged "pride-oriented," showing the strongest agreement that they can be proud of their job as healthcare workers (Z=1.08). Conclusion: Many studies on such an image should be carried out to determine the importance of occupational images and establish desirable status for dental technicians to continue developing.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.511-519
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• 2021

This study examined the effects of the levels of depression and oral health on the quality of life in workers participating in a self-sufficiency program in the Seoul metropolitan area. As for the study method, a questionnaire survey was conducted from July 26 to September 5, 2020, targeting 569 workers participating in a self-sufficiency program. Depression, Perio-Quotient Index, self-diagnosed oral symptoms, and oral health quality of life were the survey items investigated. The results were as follows. In the workers with systemic diseases, depression, Perio-Quotient Index, oral symptoms, and oral health quality of life were all negative. The level of depression was highly negative in both Perio-Quotient Index, oral symptoms, and oral health quality of life, showing statistically significant differences. In addition, depression showed a strong negative correlation with the Perio-Quotient Index, oral symptoms, and oral health quality of life. Depression, Perio-Quotient Index, and particularly oral symptoms negatively affected oral health and the quality of life. As workers participating in a self-sufficiency program are vulnerable to oral health problems, oral health education is required for the correct awareness and management of oral health, and oral health policy improvement for socially vulnerable groups is essential to ensure continued oral health management.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.15-26
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• 2020

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the education status, knowledge, and perception of oral care among senior nursing students from Republic of Korea who completed all four curricular courses of Introduction to Nursing, Pediatric Nursing, Adult Nursing and Gerontological Nursing in order to provide basic data for effective oral care of inpatients. Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted for 137 senior nursing students in the Seoul and Gangwon regions who were selected by convenience sampling. The questionnaire consisted of questions about the perception of oral care. A frequency analysis was conducted to analyze education status, perception, and general characteristics of participants. In addition, independent t-test and one-way analysis of variance were conducted to assess differences in the knowledge level according to the characteristics of the students. A p-value less than 0.05 was statistically significant. Results: The study results revealed that 63.5% of the respondents received education on oral care, with 67.8% of them receiving the education during their regular curriculum. Of the responders who said they received education, 41.4% said that education was not enough. Furthermore, the majority of respondents (56.9%) considered dental hygienists to be most suitable for the administration of oral care for inpatients. Conclusion: This study revealed nursing students' positive perceptions of the importance of oral care and dental hygienists'performance of oral care for inpatients. Consideration should be given to healthcare workers in various professions for improving oral health in inpatients, as well as for further study of oral care in the curriculum.