\"Purpose: To assess oral health literacy (OHL) of refugees in St. Louis, Missouri and evaluate the effect of an oral health education program on OHL and oral health perceptions. Methods: The three-phase non-experimental quantitative research included a group of 52 refugees : implementation of an oral health education program and a pretest/posttest analysis of two surveys; a Socio-demographic Survey and Oral Health Perceptions of Refugees ; and an Estimate of Oral Health Literacy-Bilingual 40 (EOHL-BL40). Results: Participants scored higher on EOHL-BL40 Posttest 1 with a mean of 28.61 (SE=2.41) versus Pretest with a mean of 15.29 (SE = 1.24). Good retention of information was demonstrated. Though the score of Posttest 2 was lower than that of Posttest 1 with a mean of 25.48 (SE = 2.37) versus 28.61 (SE = 2.41), the score of Posttest 2 was significantly higher than the Pretest. The OHL assessment in native language was significantly higher with a mean of 18.92 (47.31%) compared to English assessment with a mean score of 6.12 (15.29%). Conclusion: Oral health education programs are effective at improving OHL and oral health perceptions of refugees. Bilingual word comprehension is effective at assessing OHL of refugees\"--Leaf v.
","abstract_html":"<p>"Purpose: To assess oral health literacy (OHL) of refugees in St. Louis, Missouri and evaluate the effect of an oral health education program on OHL and oral health perceptions. Methods: The three-phase non-experimental quantitative research included a group of 52 refugees : implementation of an oral health education program and a pretest/posttest analysis of two surveys; a Socio-demographic Survey and Oral Health Perceptions of Refugees ; and an Estimate of Oral Health Literacy-Bilingual 40 (EOHL-BL40). Results: Participants scored higher on EOHL-BL40 Posttest 1 with a mean of 28.61 (SE=2.41) versus Pretest with a mean of 15.29 (SE = 1.24). Good retention of information was demonstrated. Though the score of Posttest 2 was lower than that of Posttest 1 with a mean of 25.48 (SE = 2.37) versus 28.61 (SE = 2.41), the score of Posttest 2 was significantly higher than the Pretest. The OHL assessment in native language was significantly higher with a mean of 18.92 (47.31%) compared to English assessment with a mean score of 6.12 (15.29%). Conclusion: Oral health education programs are effective at improving OHL and oral health perceptions of refugees. Bilingual word comprehension is effective at assessing OHL of refugees"--Leaf v.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Muller, Romana"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (MS) in Dental Hygiene","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Dental Hygiene","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2016-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:13:35Z","subjects":["Dental health education--Missouri--Saint Louis","Refugees--Dental care--Missouri--Saint Louis","Dental public health--Missouri--Saint Louis","Community dental services--Missouri--Saint Louis","Dental Public Health and Education"],"languages":[],"rights":["Access is available to all users"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://dc.ewu.edu/theses/380","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Muller, Romana"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Dental Hygiene"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS) in Dental Hygiene"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Dental health education--Missouri--Saint Louis","Refugees--Dental care--Missouri--Saint Louis","Dental public health--Missouri--Saint Louis","Community dental services--Missouri--Saint Louis","Dental Public Health and Education"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Access is available to all users"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://dc.ewu.edu/theses/380"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["\"Purpose: To assess oral health literacy (OHL) of refugees in St. Louis, Missouri and evaluate the effect of an oral health education program on OHL and oral health perceptions. Methods: The three-phase non-experimental quantitative research included a group of 52 refugees : implementation of an oral health education program and a pretest/posttest analysis of two surveys; a Socio-demographic Survey and Oral Health Perceptions of Refugees ; and an Estimate of Oral Health Literacy-Bilingual 40 (EOHL-BL40). Results: Participants scored higher on EOHL-BL40 Posttest 1 with a mean of 28.61 (SE=2.41) versus Pretest with a mean of 15.29 (SE = 1.24). Good retention of information was demonstrated. Though the score of Posttest 2 was lower than that of Posttest 1 with a mean of 25.48 (SE = 2.37) versus 28.61 (SE = 2.41), the score of Posttest 2 was significantly higher than the Pretest. The OHL assessment in native language was significantly higher with a mean of 18.92 (47.31%) compared to English assessment with a mean score of 6.12 (15.29%). Conclusion: Oral health education programs are effective at improving OHL and oral health perceptions of refugees. Bilingual word comprehension is effective at assessing OHL of refugees\"--Leaf v.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Does an oral health education program increase oral health literacy and access to dental care in a refugee population?"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Muller, Romana"],"dc:description.abstract":["\"Purpose: To assess oral health literacy (OHL) of refugees in St. Louis, Missouri and evaluate the effect of an oral health education program on OHL and oral health perceptions. Methods: The three-phase non-experimental quantitative research included a group of 52 refugees : implementation of an oral health education program and a pretest/posttest analysis of two surveys; a Socio-demographic Survey and Oral Health Perceptions of Refugees ; and an Estimate of Oral Health Literacy-Bilingual 40 (EOHL-BL40). Results: Participants scored higher on EOHL-BL40 Posttest 1 with a mean of 28.61 (SE=2.41) versus Pretest with a mean of 15.29 (SE = 1.24). Good retention of information was demonstrated. Though the score of Posttest 2 was lower than that of Posttest 1 with a mean of 25.48 (SE = 2.37) versus 28.61 (SE = 2.41), the score of Posttest 2 was significantly higher than the Pretest. The OHL assessment in native language was significantly higher with a mean of 18.92 (47.31%) compared to English assessment with a mean score of 6.12 (15.29%). Conclusion: Oral health education programs are effective at improving OHL and oral health perceptions of refugees. Bilingual word comprehension is effective at assessing OHL of refugees\"--Leaf v.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://dc.ewu.edu/theses/380"],"dc:rights":["Access is available to all users"],"dc:subject":["Dental health education--Missouri--Saint Louis","Refugees--Dental care--Missouri--Saint Louis","Dental public health--Missouri--Saint Louis","Community dental services--Missouri--Saint Louis","Dental Public Health and Education"],"dc:title":["Does an oral health education program increase oral health literacy and access to dental care in a refugee population?"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Dental Hygiene"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS) in Dental Hygiene"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:13:35Z"}