Homebound oral care for older adults: A qualitative study of professional carers' perspectives in Perth, Western Australia

Objective

To examine professional support workers and case managers' (professional carers) perspectives of what promoted or compromised oral health care in homebound adults aged over 65 years in Perth, Western Australia and identify professional carers' need for support in this context.

Background

Accessing dental services can be difficult to navigate and unaffordable for homebound older adults. Paid carers often play a substantial role in facilitating access to services yet there is limited qualitative evidence of the perspectives of these stakeholders.

Methods

Given limited evidence in this area, this simple qualitative study was informed by constructivist grounded theory. Participants comprised 15 professional carers of homebound older adults. Transcripts were analysed to identify participant perceptions of key barriers and enablers to providing oral health care.

Results

Barriers to clients accessing dental care included participants' uncertainty around navigating the dental system, low priority of oral health care, affordability and confusion around who was responsible to provide oral care. Enablers included participants supporting clients' autonomy around oral care, better integration of oral care into primary health care and education and opportunity for training for professional carers.

Conclusion

Ensuring oral health is part of primary health plans, clarifying roles and responsibilities around delivering oral health care to homebound older adults and training carers were key findings. Inter-sectoral collaboration between the dental and aged care sectors can benefit dental practitioners and professional carers in shared learning and has likely flow-on effects for homebound older adults.