慢性住院精神分裂病患口腔衛生改善專案

The subject of this study was a program to improve the oral hygiene of patients with chronic Schizophrenia between 1(superscript st) October 2003 and 30(superscript th) March, 2004. The program used two forms for the observation of oral hygiene among the 44 chronic Schizophrenia patients. These were the ”oral hygiene observation form,” and the ”oral hygiene estimation form”. Data gained from the two forms revealed that the subjects lacked cleaning habits and the knowledge necessary to prompt them to maintain oral hygiene, all of which was due to lack of supervision by their health care providers. The program therefore suggested that oral hygiene be taught through group activities with a reinforcement tool of tokens to reward patients for improving their knowledge of the importance of oral hygiene. The results of the group activities showed that: the percentage of patients able to brush their teeth on their own increased from 25% to 85%; stock levels of the necessary cleaning tools increased from 29.6% to 100%. The number of points indicating tooth plaque reduction went from 1.8 to 2.7; halitosis reduction went from 2.0 to 2.8; tongue plaque reduction increased from 2.1 to 2.8 points. All results of this program showed significant improvements in the oral hygiene of patients with chronic Schizophrenia. The program is therefore recommended to all wards with chronic Schizophrenia patients.