Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health, Adelaide Dental School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
Allied Health and Human Performance, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
Aust Dent J. 2023 Mar;68(1):7-18. doi: 10.1111/adj.12942. Epub 2022 Oct 28.
Oral health service utilization contributes to positive oral health and indicates realised access to services. The study aimed to describe patterns of oral health service use among overseas-born and Australian-born populations and assess equity in access to services.
The study used data from Australia's National Study of Adult Oral Health 2017-2018 and was guided by the Aday and Andersen framework of access to health and Australia's National Oral Health Plan. Descriptive analyses of service use by perceived need, enabling and predisposing factors were compared between four groups: Australian-born and overseas-born who mainly speak English and Australian-born and overseas-born who mainly speak a language other than English.
Overseas-born who mainly speak a language other than English experienced greater oral health care inequity, largely driven by financial difficulty (avoided care due to cost: 42% vs 27%-28%; avoided/delayed visiting due to cost: 48% vs. 37%-38%; cost prevented treatment: 32% vs. 18%-24%). The most favourable visiting patterns were among the Australian-born population who speak a language other than English.
The study shows clear inequity experienced among immigrants in accessibility as measured through indicators of oral health care utilization and factors related to inequity, such as the ability to pay for services.
口腔卫生服务的利用有助于实现口腔健康，并表明服务的可及性。本研究旨在描述海外出生和澳大利亚出生人群的口腔卫生服务使用模式，并评估服务获取的公平性。
本研究使用了澳大利亚国家成人口腔健康研究 2017-2018 年的数据，该研究以 Aday 和 Andersen 的健康获取框架以及澳大利亚国家口腔健康计划为指导。通过感知需求、促成因素和倾向因素对服务使用情况进行描述性分析，比较了四个群体之间的差异：主要说英语的澳大利亚出生和海外出生人群，以及主要说英语以外语言的澳大利亚出生和海外出生人群。
主要说英语以外语言的海外出生人群经历了更大的口腔卫生保健不公平，这主要是由于经济困难造成的（因费用而避免护理：42%比 27%-28%；因费用而避免/延迟就诊：48%比 37%-38%；费用阻止治疗：32%比 18%-24%）。最有利的就诊模式是主要说英语以外语言的澳大利亚出生人群。
研究表明，移民在获取口腔保健方面存在明显的不公平，这可以通过口腔保健服务利用的指标以及与不公平相关的因素（如支付服务费用的能力）来衡量。
