A Promotora Program to Prevent Primary Tooth Decay in Low-income Latino Children

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant KDH Research andamp Communication KDHRC proposes to develop and evaluate Dientes Fuertes Vida Sana DFVS a culturally competent program to prevent primary tooth decay in low income Latino children ages zero to six To effectively reach low income Latino children DFVS will train promotores de salud PS at Latino serving community based organizations CBOs to conduct outreach to Latino parents and guardians to build their knowledge and skills in oral health literacy including proper brushing flossing ad feeding practices to prevent primary tooth decay and oral healthcare system navigation which includes when where and how to seek dental care and treatment and methods to overcome barriers to dental care DFVS addresses a pressing public health need Public health officials have called tooth decay a silent epidemic and the greatest unmet childhood health need On an individual level childhood tooth decay predicts lasting and substantive physical psychosocial and economic consequences On a societal level childhood tooth decay costs taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars yearly due mostly to emergency room care for preventable tooth pain DFVS matches this pressing public health need with the PS intervention model which has demonstrated effectiveness culturally competency and cost efficiency DFVS is unique in the field At the completion of this project we will have the complete DFVS program which will consist of four bilingual English Spanish components a Training Guide TG for a CBO based facilitator to conduct eight two hour sessions to prepare PS to conduct outreach to Latino guardians a multi part training telenovela or streaming video that dramatically illustrates Latino oral health challenges for PS learning and discussion an Implementation Guide IG to build CBOsandapos capacity to effectively use DFVS and a distribution website to host DFVS What is more we will have substantive data on DFVSandapos s effectiveness as a culturally competent program to prevent primary tooth decay in low income Latino children ages zero to six These data will stem from two sources First the feasibility evaluation will explore the extent to which DFVS is a useful culturally appropriate program that CBOs will adopt It will also test how exposure to the DFVS prototype changes PSandapos knowledge improve attitudes and increase self efficacy to conduct outreach to Latino guardians Second the outcome evaluation will test DFVS in a two group multi stage controlled trial of DFVSandapos s effectiveness when implemented by a group of CBOs Taken together DFVS and its evaluation results aim to reduce oral health disparities among low income Latino children ages zero to six by creating an evidence based culturally competent program to prevent primary tooth decay PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE DFVS meets a pressing public health need Public health officials have called tooth decay a silent epidemic and the greatest unmet childhood health need Low income Latino children are at particular risk of experiencing tooth decay and its lasting and substantive physical psychosocial and economic consequences DFVS will address the costly public health problem of tooth decay in low income Latino children using CBO based PS as a culturally competent method to build Latino guardiansandapos knowledge attitudes self efficacy and intentions in oral health literacy and oral healthcare system navigation DFVS will be the only program of its kind and it thereby innovatively meets calls for interventions to prevent tooth decay in this vulnerable population