Culture and dental health among African immigrant school‐aged children in the United States

Health Education - Tập 107 Số 4 - Trang 343-350 - 2007
Cecilia S.Obeng1
1Department of Applied Health Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA

Tóm tắt

PurposeThe paper examines African immigrant parents' views on dental decay and whether such views affect their decision to obtain dental insurance for their children. The paper also examines the cultural underpinnings of the immigrants' oral health care practices.Design/methodology/approachThe data for the study were collected in the states of Indiana and Virginia. The data were collected in 2005 by the author and a research assistant. A total of 420 parents (220 males and 200 females) took part in the research, answering questions about 601 children.FindingsThe results indicate that a sizeable number of African immigrant school‐aged children are denied dental health due to a combination of cultural perceptions on dental health (such as families taking responsibility for cleaning their teeth themselves), parental ignorance on dental health, parents' perception of dental health practice in the USA, and the parents' weak financial standing.Originality/valueThe study is of considerable importance to dental care providers, public health specialists, social workers, and more especially the school systems that have African immigrant children, because as people who provide information and guidance to such immigrants, knowing about how the immigrants' cultural backgrounds influence their decisions about dental care will help to serve the immigrants more effectively.

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Tài liệu tham khảo

Beveridge, S. (2006), “Oral health beliefs, traditions, and practices in the Somali culture”, available at: http://ethnomed.org/ethnomed/cultures/somali/som_oral_health.html (accessed September 2006).

Graham, E.A., Domoto, P.K., Lynch, H., Egbert, M.A. and West, J. (2000), “Dental injuries due to African traditional therapies for diarrhea”, Western Journal of Medicine, Vol. 2, pp. 137‐73.

Holm, A.K. (1990), “Diet and caries in high‐risk groups in developed and developing countries”, Caries Research, Vol. 24, pp. 44‐52.

Lopez, N., Wadenya, R. and Berthold, R. (2005), “Oral health status and utilization of oral health services among African immigrants in West Philadelphia”, paper presented at the 133rd Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Public Health Association, Philadelphia, PA.

Obeng, C.S. (2006), “A qualitative analysis of the impact of culture on dental health among African immigrants living in the United States of America”, unpublished manuscript.

Obeng, C.S. (2007), “Immigrant families and childcare preferences: do immigrants' cultures influence their childcare decisions?”, Early Child Education Journal, forthcoming.

Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Health Education

Tập 107 Số 4

343-350

Thông tin tác giả