Older Adults' Experiences of Oral Rehabilitation - a Qualitative Interview Study

Older Adults' Experiences of Oral Rehabilitation - a Qualitative Interview Study

The aim of this study is to gain knowledge and understanding about older adults' experiences of comprehensive oral prosthetic rehabilitation and their life situation before, during and after the treatment. This is both to deepen the knowledge gained in an ongoing interventional study, but also to increase the understanding of how to best meet older adults' needs when planning and performing oral rehabilitation in any dental surgery.

This qualitative study will be based on individual, semi-structured interviews using an Interview Guide focusing on the participants´ perceptions, experiences, and reflections. The interviews will then be analyzed with a descriptive content analysis method according to Graneheim and Lundman.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Completed prosthetic treatment in the original study 3-13 months ago
• Age 65-80 years at start of the original study
• Masticatory dysfunction (Eichner's index B3-B4 or C1-C4) for original study
• Mini-Mental-State-Examination-test (MMSE) score >26 for original study

Exclusion criteria for the original study:

• Neuropsychological disease
• Severely impaired hearing or vision
• Poor knowledge of the Swedish language
• Having had a stroke ≤ 6 months before inclusion

No additional exclusion criteria for our study.