Original Research
Characteristics of oral health literacy in Senegal: A cross-sectional study among women in the Department of Pikine
Submitted: 11 April 2024 | Published: 26 July 2022
About the author(s)
Serigne N. Dieng, Department of Odontology, Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar, SenegalAïda Kanouté, Department of Odontology, Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar, Senegal
Pierre Lombrail, Health Education and Promotion Laboratory, Sorbonne University of Paris Cité, Bobigny, France
Massamba Diouf, Department of Odontology, Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar, Senegal
Sylvie Azogui-Levy, Health Education and Promotion Laboratory, UFR of Odontology, Paris 7 University, Paris, France
Full Text:
PDF (4MB)Abstract
Senegal having a significant prevalence of socially differentiated oral diseases, oral health literacy (OHL), an individual and social resource, should be considered alongside a remedial response. This work aimed to analyze women’s OHL characteristics. A cross-sectional study on 315 women in Pikine County was carried out, using the Oral Health Literacy-Adult Questionnaire (OHL-AQ) for the OHL data collection and a questionnaire for the women’s socioeconomic characteristics data. These women had an OHL average score of 6.5±3.1 and a median of 6. Among them, 56.5% had a seemingly low OHL level, a little over 68.9% had a score above the median as regards the “listening, communication and understanding” aspect, 58.4% to “decision making”, 55.2% to “understanding numbers” and 33% to “reading and understanding”. According to a multivariate analysis, secondary and higher educated women (p<0.001) with an active social network (p<0.023), in a wealthy household (p<0.0001) and of nuclear household type (p<0.036) had a higher OHL level. Women in Pikine have low OHL and are from working-class households. Therefore, oral health policies must take into account the women’s social network contribution to the OHL improvement.
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Crossref Citations
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BMC Public Health vol: 24 issue: 1 year: 2024
doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-20697-1