Speech therapy and oral health issues in the perception of the older adults that access the Unified Health System

Abstract

Study design: Cross-sectional study with data collected from questionnaires applied to older adults at domiciliary visits regarding access to health services. Objective: Analyzing the perception of independent elderly about speech-language and dental issues in the Primary Health Care Services of the Unified Health System/SUS. Methods: Absolute frequencies of the study variables related to speech-language and dental questions were analyzed using the Chi-square test and Fisher's Exact Test, both with a 0.05% significance level. Results: The elderly interviewed were predominantly women (76.5%), white (73.5%), with at least high school education (64.7%). Of these, 92.6% said they had no difficulty in eating, although 51.5% never had a speech therapist evaluation. There was also a higher proportion indicating that the elderly did not need an appointment with the speech therapist (73.5%). Regarding the use of primary care services, 68.7% used the public system, and of these, 94.1% self-perceived their oral health condition as fair/poor. Conclusion: It is suggested to strengthen the care of the elderly in an interdisciplinary and integral way to cover the needs and specificities of this population. The low perception of the importance of care suggests the need for strengthening speech therapy services for the health of the elderly Brazilian population.