Abstract
Objectives : This study was to examine the satisfaction level of participants in a oral exercise program geared toward the improvement of oral function, their reuse intention of the program and their willingness of recommendation in an effort to facilitate the advancement of the program. Methods : The subjects in this study were 85 senior citizens who used senior welfare centers and nursing homes in Seoul. A oral exercise program was implemented 24 times from April to June 2009, twice a week, and the selected elderly people participated in the program 20 times or more. An interview survey was conducted by two trained dental hygienists, and the collected data were analyzed. Results : 1. As for satisfaction level with each part of the program, the elderly people investigated expressed the best satisfaction with the service supplier(a mean of 3.81), followed by the usefulness of the procedure of the program(3.77) and oral exercise(3.64). 2. The satisfaction level with oral exercise had a significant impact on their overall satisfaction with the program, reuse intention and willingness of recommendation, and the entire satisfaction level with the program was correlated to reuse intention and willingness of recommendation(p<0.001). 3. Out of the demographic characteristics, marital status and whether to live with their families or not made a significant difference to their satisfaction level with oral exercise(p<0.05). Conclusions : It took 20 minutes to get oral exercise, which consisted of warming-up, exercise for each part of oral and cooking-down, and they found it appropriate to spend that time and had no difficulties in repeating after the instructor.