Development of the Optimized Oral Health-Related Section of the InterRAI

International literature shows that oral health in frail older individuals is often deficient. This menaces oral comfort and quality of life, and it is also associated with a number of systemic diseases. To ensure effective daily oral care and in-time referral to professional treatment, caregivers need to be able to detect oro-dental care needs. The interRAI instruments are internationally used for comprehensive geriatric assessment. Previous studies have shown that its current oral health-related section (ohrinterRAI) and related precursor versions fail to identify care-requiring oral conditions (1-4). Own research revealed limitations of content and response process validity (5). Based on these findings, the authors developed an optimized ohr-interRAI and an associated video training.

LG KF