Journal Article

Acculturation and a Potential Relationship with Oral Health Outcomes Among Somali Refugees in Massachusetts

Geltman, Paul L., Hunter-Adams, Jo, Cochran, Jennifer, Laird, Lance D., Paasche-Orlow, Michael K.

2018

Overview

This paper explores the relationship between acculturation and oral health in a study of Somali refugees. This cross-sectional survey included structured surveys and dental examinations of a convenience sample of 439 Somali adults living in Massachusetts. Associations between an acculturation scale and: (1) lifetime history of caries and (2) access to oral health services were calculated. In bivariate analyses, many individual questions in the scale were associated with outcomes. In multivariate analysis, speaking English (OR 0.5, CI 0.28–0.84) was associated with better access to, and utilization of, dental health services while reading American books and newspapers in English was associated with increased lifetime history of dental disease (OR 2.6, CI 1.1–6.0). As specific elements of acculturation have different relationships with oral health among Somali refugees, a summary acculturation scale may have limited utility. Ongoing efforts to remove language barriers may improve oral health.

• Publisher: Springer Science + Business Media,Springer US,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Acculturation / Adolescent / Adult / Adult Literacy / Adults / Age Factors / Artificial Intelligence / Bivariate analysis / Caries / Communicable Diseases / Comparative Law / Cross-Sectional Studies / Cultural factors / Dental care / Dental Care - statistics & numerical data / Dental caries / Dental Caries - ethnology / Dental Evaluation / Dental health / Dental insurance / Dental Schools / Departments / English / Female / Functional Literacy / Haitians / Health / Health Conditions / Health problems / Health services / Health Services Accessibility - statistics & numerical data / Health services utilization / Health status / Hmong People / Humans / Hygiene / Internal Medicine / International & Foreign Law / Language / Language Skills / Life Style / Male / Massachusetts - epidemiology / Medical Care Evaluation / Medical Services / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Mental Disorders / Middle Aged / Multivariate analysis / National Surveys / Oral English / Oral Health - ethnology / Oral hygiene / Oral Hygiene - statistics & numerical data / Original Paper / Outcomes of Treatment / Polls & surveys / Posttraumatic Stress Disorder / Private International Law / Public Health / Refugee and Asylee Health / Refugees / Refugees - statistics & numerical data / Sex Factors / Socioeconomic Factors / Sociology / Somalia - ethnology / Young Adult