• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.879-891
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• 2016

Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the oral health literacy of foreign students in Korea regarding their utilization of dental clinic services and oral care products. Methods: This study measured the oral health literacy through a self-administered questionnaire that were distributed among 145 foreign students in Seoul and 153 Korean students in Wonju, Gangwon province. The questionnaire is used to assess the oral health literacy with a total of 92 questions including 30 questions on linguistic oral health literacy, and 40 questions on functional oral health literacy (sentence translation ability 27 questions, document decoding ability 13 questions), and 22 questions on the general characteristics. The collected data were analyzed by frequency test, ${\chi}^2$, independent t-test, and ANOVA with p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The linguistic oral health literacy awareness score was doubly lower in foreign students $20.5{\pm}22.4%$ than Korean students $53.9{\pm}18.4%$ (p<0.05), three words were not statistically significant with less than 10% of all the foreign and Korean students. Correct answer rate of sentence translation ability was statistically significant in all questions by foreign students $26.7{\pm}27.1%$ and Korean students $99.0{\pm}2.3%$ (p<0.05). Correct answer rate of document decoding ability showed a relatively small difference between foreign students and Korean students with $54.7{\pm}33.1%$ and $87.3{\pm}8.7%$, respectively, but it was statistically significant in all questions (p<0.05). Oral health literacy according to residence period and Korean language class level of foreign students were the most correlated among the other variables (p<0.05). Conclusions: Dental terminology was difficult for ordinary people to understand regardless of the Korean language proficiency levels, so it is recommended and needed to express dental clinical terms in simple layman's term or to use illustrations to dental patients. In case of foreign residents in Korea, interpretation services are needed. Additionally, labels and instructions of oral hygiene products retailed in Korea with the consideration for foreigners are required.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.54-64
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• 2014

Purpose: This study is to measure oral health literacy levels and to identify oral health literacy related factors in elders. Methods: The research design for this study was a descriptive survey design using convenience samples. Data collection was done by using a self-report questionnaire with 321 elders from three welfare centers for the aged and two senior centers located in three cities. Data were analyzed by using percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, Scheff$\acute{e}$, Pearson's Correlation Analysis and hierarchical multiple regression with the SPSS Win 18.0 Program. Results: The oral health literacy scores of male elders were higher than those of female elders (t=9.73, p=.002). In hierarchical multiple regression analysis, education levels, smoking and oral health statuses were significant predictors and accounted for 29.8% of the male elders' oral health literacy. For female elders, education levels, health statuses and oral health statuses were significant predictors and accounted for 47.7%. Conclusion: These results suggest that interventions for improving oral health literacy are necessary to enhance elders' ability of self-care management. Also, these results could be used in developing oral health literacy programs.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.355-362
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• 2016

Objectives: This study aimed to develop a tool for assessing foreigners' understanding of oral health information in Korea called the Test of Korean Functional Health Literacy in Dentistry(TOKFHLiD) and examined validity and reliability of the tool. The TOKFHLiD consists of two literacy assessment parts: Dental Information Sentence(DIS) aims to assess one's literacy of sentences containing oral health information. Dental Information Document(DID) aims to assess one's numeracy and literacy of documents containing oral health information. Methods: Twenty eight preliminary questions were developed based on various medical care literature such as the agreement to diagnosis and treatment and the treatment precautions. DID using 14 preliminary questions was developed based on the appointment card, the treatment schedule, and labels on oral care products. The 42 preliminary questions in the DIS and the DID were subsequently put through four separate expert reviews, in which questions with content validity score of less than 0.8(13/15 points) were corrected and modified by five dental experts and then were corrected for language errors by two Korean language experts. The preliminary assessment tool was tested on 153 Koreans, and ${\chi}^2$ test was performed on the ratio of respondents who comprehended each question, the ratio of respondents who chose the correct answer for each question with a significance level of 0.05. Results: Of the 42 preliminary questions, 1 question in DIS and 1 question in DID, for which the ratio of Korean respondents who chose the correct answers did not exceed the acceptable level of 80%, were excluded and a final assessment tool was completed with 40 questions. Conclusions: Following the development and application of the tool, examination of the TOKHLiD for validity and reliability revealed that this assessment tool is adequate for assessing oral health information literacy of foreigners who are using oral hygiene medical services in Korea.