Rate My Professor Sarah Majeed

Sarah Majeed is an Assistant Research Fellow in the Health Promotion and Policy Research Unit (HePPRU) within the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Wellington campus, as part of the Division of Health Sciences. As an Oral Health Therapist with a DPH qualification, her academic and research interests focus on interprofessional collaboration to improve oral health care practices, especially for care-dependent older adults living in community settings. Majeed's contributions emphasize training nursing staff and students to integrate oral health assessments into routine care, addressing longstanding gaps in knowledge, skills, confidence, and standardized guidelines in nursing practices.

Her research includes a 2024 pilot study published in the International Journal of Older People Nursing titled 'Improving Nursing Oral Care Practice for Community-Dwelling Care-Dependent Older People.' Co-authored with Keiko Oda, Nazahiah N. Bakri, Shennae Bartlett, Murray W. Thomson, John Parsons, Michal Boyd, Anna C. Ferguson, and Moira Smith, the mixed-methods investigation delivered oral healthcare training by nursing and oral health professionals. Pre- and post-questionnaires (N=14) showed statistically significant knowledge improvement (p=0.046), while focus groups (N=5) revealed heightened confidence and calls for organizational changes despite non-significant shifts in attitudes and confidence scores (p=0.127). The study highlights the need for ongoing hands-on training to enhance oral care delivery. In 2023, Majeed co-authored 'Putting the Mouth Into the Head-to-Toe Assessment: Nursing Oral Health Assessment Training With an Oral Health Therapist' in the Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, demonstrating that interprofessional training with assessment tools and onsite therapist support boosted nursing students' self-efficacy and confidence in oral health evaluations. These works position her as a key figure in advancing public health strategies for oral hygiene in aged care.