Abstract:
Oral health is an important component of general health and quality of life. Meanwhile,
oral disease is still a major elderly health problem. Thus, the purpose of this research was to get
developed tools for measuring oral health literacy in elderly population by using Delphi technique.
Questionnaires were designed to systematically collect opinions from experts in oral health professional
(Dentists). The experts answered three rounds of questionnaires. Then the median and inter quartile
range (IQR) of the data set were determined. Therefore, conclusions from the experts opinion were
reached. The expert who gave opinion on questionnaires were ones who are oral health professional
with the total number of 18 person. The research instrument used in the first round was an open-ended
questionnaire. The result from the questionnaires were used to design the second round questionnaire. It
was a five-rating scale question. The questionnaires were sent to the experts to evaluate and give
suggestion. The researcher analysed the questionnaires using median and inter quartile range (IQR), the
results from the questionnaire were used for adjusting the third round questionnaire. The final version of
the questionnaire was distributed to the same group of experts. The data from the third round were
analyzed by using the same methods as the second round.
The result of the study were as follows: 1) Consensus indicators from experts opinions
were divided into 6 categories: (1.1) Access skill: 6 indicators, (1.2) Cognitive skill: 10 indicators, (1.3)
Communication skill: 4 indicators, (1.4) Self-management skill: 7 indicators, (1.5) Media literacy skill:
6 indicators, (1.6) Decision skill: 4 indicators
Therefore, the oral health promotion guideline on the elderly should be beginning by
evaluating OHL levels of the elderly for promoting oral health literacy in the elderly.