SALUTOGENIC FACTORS FOR ORAL HEALTH AMONG OLDER PEOPLE: AN INTEGRATIVE REVIEW

Abstract

Aim: The concept of salutogenesis has been the subject of research in different areas. However, no review has so far presented the concept within the oral health area. Therefore, the aim of this study was to comprehensively describe reported salutogenic factors associated with oral health in older people.

Methods: An integrative review was carried out using online databases: PubMed, CINAHL, ProQuest and Scopus. Ancestry and descendency searches were performed as well as the quality assessment of the included studies. The reviewers used the Lalonde Health Field concept and the Antonovsky Theory of Salutogenesis to organise reported factors associated with better oral health (OH) and better oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL), for people aged 60 years and older. The health fields of Lalonde were cross- tabulated against Antonovsky’s generalized resistance resources (GRR), and extracted salutogenic factors were placed into the matrix to facilitate the analysis.

Results: The final analysis included 76 studies. Several factors could be associated with better OH and better OHRQoL. However, few factors were identified within a majority of health fields. There was lack of studies with an explicit salutogenic focus on people aged 60 and older. Most notable was the absence of research data on salutogenic factors within the Health Care Organisation field and macrosociocultural GRRs.

Conclusions: The matrix approach allowed the reviewers to combine the two theoretical frameworks and examine the congruence between the Health Fields and particular GRRs, as well as areas with a lack of research. The successfulN merging of Antonovsky’s and Lalonde’s frameworks indicates that they are based on a similar understandingN of underlying mechanisms for interaction of salutogenic factors associated with OH and OHRQoL outcomes. ThisN method of triangulation suggests a way of verifying a common understanding of salutogenesis.