Diabetes and oral health (DiabOH) : the effectiveness of interdisciplinary education - a systematic review

Context: Diabetes and oral disease are becoming increasingly prevalent in Australia and share a bidirectional relationship. Despite this relationship, collaboration between the medical and dental professions and their knowledge regarding these conditions is limited. Interdisciplinary education on diabetes and oral health management is lacking. Objective: To assess available evidence of interdisciplinary educational programs on diabetes and oral health management and their effects on knowledge and confidence. Design: A systematic review of literature on randomised and non-randomised controlled trials and before-and-after comparison studies in the English language; no limits on year of publication. Setting: Not applicable. Review methods: Electronic databases Medline, EMBASE, Emcare and CINAHL were systematically searched and studies were critically appraised. Participants: Not applicable. Findings: Nineteen articles were identified from 411 for full-text screening. Four studies of a quasi-experimental design with a pre- and post-test evaluation were included in the review. Of these, three studies reported positive changes in the participants’ knowledge of the roles of other healthcare professionals, three reported improved attitudes towards interprofessional collaboration and communication and one reported increased confidence with working in an interprofessional team. Implication(s) for practice: Interdisciplinary education should improve health professionals’ attitudes and knowledge of the roles of other health professionals in the management of diabetes and oral health and their confidence in working with one another. However, given the limited availability of interdisciplinary education on diabetes and oral health management, continual development and further research in this area would improve the evidence base.