Meeting the oral health needs of a rural older adult population through the Older American's Act Amendments of 2006

The Older American Act (OAA) Reauthorization Bill of 2006 has recently expanded its Title II Program to include “disease prevention and health promotion”. A needs assessment was carried out to help formulate an area plan using 29 Likert-scale items. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of a geriatric population related to health screenings. Oral health screenings were compared with three other general health screening items. METHODS: Respondents (n=236) were participants of either a home-delivered meal program or a senior center nutrition site. Sites/consumers were selected based on the rural nature of the location. An instrument utilizing a four (4) point Likert scale for specific service needs and a demographic section was used in the process. Items examined in this study were diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure and oral health screenings. RESULTS: Preliminary findings suggest that oral health screenings were perceived as much less important as compared to screenings for cholesterol, hypertension or diabetes. The more rural the setting, the less important oral health screening was perceived. CONCLUSIONS: Oral health screening is not perceived as important as general health or chronic disease screenings within the health promotion frameworks. Efforts need to be made by oral health professionals to address oral health screenings and raise the awareness of the important role that these screenings potentially can play with the overall health in geriatrics. Specific strategies will be addressed as part of the implications for building programs from these 2006 legislative/policy amendments to the OAA.