Oral Health in Prison: a Study on Improving Prisoners' Oral Health

Summary

This study investigates the effects of an intervention based on Motivational Interviewing (MI) on oral hygiene, oral cleaning routines, and attitudes toward own oral health of prisoners in Norway. Motivational Interviewing is a collaborative, person-centered form of guiding to elicit and strengthen motivation for change. All prisoners in the study undergo an oral examination to establish a baseline of oral health and a comprehensive questionnaire to identify risk factors and their attitudes towards their oral health and oral treatment. Norwegian-speaking prisoners are then randomized into either a treatment or control group. In the treatment group, dental staff initiate a conversation with the prisoner based on techniques from MI. Both groups finally receive a toilet bag with basic equipment to regularly clean their teeth. After 4 weeks and 12 weeks, prisoners are invited back for another oral examination and a follow-up questionnaire, to measure changes in oral hygiene, oral cleaning routines, and attitude toward their oral health. At four weeks a screening of general learning difficulties using the validated screening tool The Hayes Ability Screening Index (HASI) will be conducted. If the intervention proves to be an effective tool in improving oral hygiene, oral cleaning routines, and/or attitude towards own oral health, it can serve as an alternative proactive approach to improve the oral health of a vulnerable group in society. If the improvements in oral hygiene and oral cleaning routines are long-lasting, this may in turn lead to a reduced need for oral treatment. An improved attitude towards own oral health may, together with other rehabilitation programs in prison, improve the prisoner's self-esteem and chances to successfully returning to society after having served their prison sentence.

Conditions

• Oral Health
• Prisoners

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Motivational Interviewing

This study investigates the effects of an intervention based on Motivational Interviewing (MI) on oral hygiene, oral cleaning routines, and attitudes towards own oral health. The first step is for the dental staff to ask open questions to the prisoner about their oral health or oral health behavior. The next step is to confirm to the prisoner what he or she is doing. The third step is called reflection. At this stage, dental staff tries to provide reflections on what the prisoner have said, for example by repeating what the prisoner have said or say the same using synonyms (simple reflection), by extracting the underlying opinion or feeling (complex reflection), or by illuminate both negative and positive sides of the situation (double sided reflection). The final step is to summarize the conversation. In addition, the intervention includes a change plan, in which the prisoner and dental staff agrees on specific behavior that the prisoner should follow based on the MI conversation.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Helse Stavanger HF

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Oral Health Center of Expertise Rogaland, Norway

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Vibeke H Bull, PhD · Oral Health Centre of Expertise, Stavanger

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-11-01

Primary Completion

2023-06-26

Completion

2023-06-26

Countries

• Norway

Study Locations