Infusing oral health care into nursing curriculum: addressing preventive health in aging and disability.

Access to oral health care is essential for promoting and maintaining overall health and well-being, yet oral health disparities exist among vulnerable and underserved populations. While nurses make up the largest portion of the health care work force, educational preparation to address oral health needs of elders and persons with disabilities is limited across nursing curricula. This descriptive study reports on the interdisciplinary development, implementation, and testing of an oral health module that was included and infused into a graduate nursing curriculum in a three-phase plan.

Perceived helpfulness of telephone calls--providing support for caregivers of family members with dementia.

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceived helpfulness of telephone calls to 83 caregivers of family members with dementia. Study participants were assigned by groups to experimental (n = 41) or attention-only control (n = 42) conditions. Initial baseline interview data and narrative transcripts of telephone calls were used in this study.