Abstract
Objectives. The purpose of this study was to examine the awareness of dental hygienists, who were certified suppliers of visiting nursing service and long-term care, and of dentists, who were their supervisors, about the long-term care insurance system for senior citizens in an attempt to provide information on the role enlargement of the dental service suppliers involving dentists and dental hygienists and the improvement of the system, as the insurance was launched to keep up with the trend of the times. Methods. The subjects in this study were dentists and dental hygienists in the capital area (Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province), on whom a self-administered survey was conducted from January to April, 2009. The answer sheets from 207 dentists and 266 dental hygienists were gathered, and the collected data were analyzed with a SPSS 14.0 program. A frequency analysis, independent t-test and cross-tabs were carried out, and Pearson correlation coefficient was utilized to look for the correlation among the selected variables. Results. 41.5% of the dentists and 50.4% of the dental hygienists just heard about the long-term care insurance for senior citizens without having any further knowledge. Only 3.4% of the dentists and 4.5% of the dental hygienists know about it in detail. Among three items presented, the dentists (3.64) and dental hygienists (3.90) agreed the most to the necessity of the insurance, while they agreed the least to the additional payment of premium. Regarding the correlation between their subjective awareness of the insurance and relevant variables, the subjective awareness of the dentists had a statistically significant relationship to all the variables, and there was a statistically significant relationship between the awareness of the dental hygienists about the necessity of the insurance and their participation in it. Conclusions. The dental service suppliers weren't well aware of the long-term care insurance system for senior citizens, but those whose family members were in need of long-term care were well cognizant of it in general. To improve their awareness and support for the system, more intensive P.R. efforts are required, and systematic educational programs should be prepared.