Developing Person-Centred Dental Care: The Perspectives of People Living in Poverty.

Nioushah Noushi,Christophe Bedos

doi:10.3390/dj8030082

Abstract

Dentistry has seen a slow trend toward person-centred care (PCC), with most approaches developed by scholars who have tried to progress away from disease-centred care. Unfortunately, the perspectives and experiences of underprivileged people have not been considered in the development of these approaches. Our objective was thus to understand underprivileged people’s experiences and expectations about dental care and contribute to the development of person-centred dentistry. We conducted a qualitative descriptive study with a sample of 13 people living in poverty. We used a maximum variation sampling strategy and selected them among the users of a free dental clinic in Montreal, Canada. We conducted semi-structured interviews that we audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and thematically analysed. Our main finding is that participants wanted to feel human and respected by dentists. More specifically, they wanted to be more involved in the dental care process through quality time and empathetic conversations with the dentist. They also wished for an exchange of information free of technical terms and built on mutual trust. In conclusion, person-centred dental care models should emphasize empathy, trust, and quality care beyond technical skills. Clinicians should provide comprehensive information in dental encounters and treat their patients as whole persons.

Highlights

The past decade has seen significant strides away from the paternalistic model within dentistry [1,2,3]
Different governing bodies have encouraged patient-centred care and a few frameworks have been developed in Canada and the UK [4,5,6,7,8,9]
For the purposes of this study, we considered the definitions and conceptualizations of person-centred care (PCC) from the researchers stated above but chose an approach that allowed our participants to define the concept as they saw fit through their experiences

Summary

Introduction

The past decade has seen significant strides away from the paternalistic model within dentistry [1,2,3]. Different governing bodies have encouraged patient-centred care and a few frameworks have been developed in Canada and the UK [4,5,6,7,8,9]. These person-centred care (PCC) models emphasize communication during clinical encounters and the importance for dental professionals to understand patients’ perspectives, their expectations, and their needs. They stipulate that dentists and their patients should share power in order to choose the best treatment options. In the UK, Scambler and Asimakopoulou describe patient-centred care as a process based on the provision of information and choice preceding four foundational components: exploring disease and its context, considering the patient as a whole person, feeling empathy and compassion, and finding common ground and sharing responsibility [8,10,11]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion