 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Ann Slaughter, DDS, MPH, Department of Community Oral Health, University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, 4001 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146-6003, 215-898-4779, yas@pobox.upenn.edu, Lynne Taylor, PhD, Center of Excellence for Minority Health, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 3508 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3357, and Virginia Smith, PhD, Urban Center, Lincoln University, 3020 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104.
Based on focus group data and oral screening data, a 32-item Take Charge Dental Survey was developed to measure oral health beliefs in older adults. The TCDS has eight subscales: Oral Self-Care Behaviors, Dentate Status, Perceived Oral and General Health Status, Self-Efficacy, Barrriers to Accessing Care, Symptom / Sign Recognition, Social Influences / Sources of Information, and Provider Factors. The TCDS was administered in interview format to a convenience sample of 121 African American elders attending five Philadelphia senior centers. Reliability for each subscale will be reported using Cronbach's alpha. Interrelationships between the three Oral Self-Care Behaviors - brushing, flossing, and dental visits - and the relative importance of the other subscales in explaining each behavior will be reported. This information has relevance towards formulating strategies to develop ethnically relevant, community based intervention programs targeted to at-risk elder population groups. Supported by University Research Foundation grant #703603.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Surgeon General's Report, Health Promotion
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.