Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
Volume 20, Issue 2, 2018, Pages 351-359

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

Hunter-Adams J.* , Cochran J. , Laird L.D. , Paasche-Orlow M.K. , Geltman P.L.
  • a Health Economics Unit, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, Division of Global Populations and Infectious Disease Prevention, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 305 South Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130, United States
  • b Division of Global Populations and Infectious Disease Prevention, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 305 South Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130, United States
  • c Department of Family Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States
  • d Section of General Internal Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States
  • e Department of Health Policy and Health Services Research, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States

Abstract

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. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Author Keywords

Refugee health Oral health Somali health status Acculturation

Index Keywords

refugee Oral Health Massachusetts human epidemiology Refugees middle aged statistics and numerical data Oral Hygiene mouth hygiene ethnology dental procedure Cross-Sectional Studies health Young Adult Dental Care cross-sectional study Humans Adolescent male Acculturation Socioeconomic Factors female socioeconomics dental caries cultural factor adult age sex factor Somalia Sex Factors Age Factors Health Services Accessibility health care delivery
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85028774323&doi=10.1007%2fs10903-017-0650-0&partnerID=40&md5=746ff7dae877037291d375b1f47232c4
DOI: 10.1007/s10903-017-0650-0
ISSN: 15571912
Cited by: 2
Original Language: English