Cuidadores de pessoas com deficiência: percepções e práticas de saúde bucal

Abstract

People with deficiency feature, generally, more problems of oral health than those without this condition. Such problems become more severe in patients with motor and intellectual commitment, making it necessary, therefore, the help of caregivers for the realization of daily oral hygiene. The objective of this study was to identify the perception of caregivers of disabled people about oral health; know your oral health condition and the impacts on their quality of life, besides checking the oral hygiene actions taken by them to the patients under their care. It is an exploratory research, sectional, with quantitative and qualitative approach conducted in Currais Novos/RN city. The sample was consisted of 50 caregivers that accompanying patients in dental treatment at Dental Specialty Center of the city. For data collection, it was used questionnaires and interviews. OHIP-14 questionnaire sought to identify the impact of oral problems on the quality of caregivers’s life, and the interviews aimed to know their perception about oral health. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0 and qualitative data were subjected to content analysis technique based on the theoretical framework of Minayo, resulting in three thematic categories: design healthy mouth, ways to take care of the mouth and conception of the edentulous. The results point that carers have a bad oral health condition, with negative repercussions on their quality of life. This condition is supported by perceptions of oral health focused on disease, this is, absence of pain and presence of oral disease. It can be inferred that surch perception compromises hygiene and oral care of people with disabilities in their care. It is clear the necessity to implement educational and motivational programs, using active methodologies that allow caregivers to appropriate knowledge necessary to maintain the oral health of patients under their responsibility, as well as their own.