Oral Health Intervention for Low-Income African American Men in Atlanta, Georgia

Study protocol: Exploring the use of Family Health Histories in the African American community to reduce health disparities in Flint, Michigan

Background Health disparities are costly and preventable differences in disease progression that disproportionately affect minority communities such as African Americans. Practices to reduce health disparities can be rooted in prevention, particularly through screening tools. Family Health History tools are preventative screening mechanisms meant to explore family history to better understand how an individual's health can potentially be predicted or impacted. These tools are underutilized in the African American community. Contributions to this underutilization include a lack of cultural tailoring in the tools, a lack of health literacy in community members, and a lack of effective health communication. The Family Health History Study will create a culturally appropriate Family Health History toolkit to increase family health history utilization and ultimately decrease health disparities. Methods The proposed sample will be composed of 195 African American adults ages 18 + who live in Genesee County, Michigan. The study consists of two phases: the development phase and the randomized pilot study phase. The goal of the development phase (n = 95) is to explore how Family Health History toolkits can be modified to better serve the African American community using a community based participatory research approach and to create a culturally tailored family health history toolkit. In the pilot study phase, 100 participants will be randomized to the culturally tailored toolkit or the current standard Family Health History toolkit. Outcomes will include feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. Discussion This study will result in a culturally appropriate Family Health History tool that is co-developed with community members that can be utilized by African American adults to better understand their family health histories. Trial Registration Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT05358964 Date: May 5, 2022.

The community engagement course and action network: strengthening community and academic research partnerships to advance health equity

Background

Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions are uniquely positioned to implement community-campus research partnerships based on a history of service, the pursuit of community trustworthiness and student demographics often similar to surrounding marginalized communities. The Morehouse School of Medicine Prevention Research Center collaborates with members of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Minority Serving Institutes, and community organizations on the Community Engaged Course and Action Network. This network is the first of its kind and aims to strengthen members' ability to implement Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) principles and partnerships. Projects address public health priorities including mental health among communities of color, zoonotic disease prevention, and urban food deserts.

Materials and methods

To assess the effectiveness of the network, a Participatory Evaluation framework was implemented to conduct process evaluation which included review of partnership structures, operations, project implementation processes, and preliminary outcomes of the research collaborations. A focus group of Community Engagement Course and Action Network members (community and academic) was also conducted to identify benefits and challenges of the network with emphasis on key areas for improvement to further enhance the relationships between partners and to facilitate their subsequent community-campus research.

Results

Network improvements were tied to themes strengthening community-academic partnerships including sharing and fellowship, coalition building and collaboration, and greater connections and awareness of community needs through their current community-academic partnerships. The need to conduct ongoing evaluation during and after implementation, for determining the early adoption of CBPR approaches was also identified.

Conclusion

Evaluation of the network's processes, infrastructure, and operation provides early lessons learned to strengthen the network. Ongoing assessment is also essential for ensuring continuous quality improvement across partnerships such as determining CBPR fidelity, assessing partnership synergy, and dynamics, and for quality improvement of research protocol. The implications and potential for advancing implementation science through this and similar networks are great towards advancing leadership in modeling how foundations in community service can advance to CBPR partnership formation and ultimately, health equity approaches, that are local defined and assessed.

Oral Health Service Access in Racial/Ethnic Minority Neighborhoods: A Geospatial Analysis in Washington, DC, USA

Previous studies on individual-level variables have improved our knowledge base of oral health service use. However, environmental or contextual variables are also important in understanding oral health disparities in racial and ethnic neighborhoods. Based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework, this study examines the geographic availability of oral health providers in Washing-ton DC, U.S.A. Census tract-level data were drawn from the American Community Survey, joined with tract-level shapefiles, and overlaid with the geographic location of dental services throughout the city. Visual maps, descriptive statistics, and spatial lag regression models showed that census tracts with higher concentrations of African Americans were significantly farther from their nearest oral health providers (r = 0.19, p < 0.001), after controlling for neighborhood poverty rate, median age, and gender. Such findings confirm that in urban areas with highly di-verse populations such as Washington DC, racial disparities in oral health care access are signifi-cant. The study highlights that identifying neighborhoods with limited oral health care providers should be a priority in diminishing racial disparities in oral health service access. Improving access to racial/ethnic minority communities, especially African American neighborhoods, will require changes in health policies and programs, workforce development, resource allocation, community outreach, and educational programs.

Addressing Black men's oral health through community engaged research and workforce recruitment

BACKGROUND

Racism negatively affects the life experiences and subsequent health of Black men, including oral disease prevalence and outcomes. Few examples in the literature discuss how racism may affect successful, unsuccessful, and non-attempts to address Black men's oral health.

AIMS

This commentary describes anti-racism approaches to address Black men's oral health through community-based participatory research, oral health promotion, and workforce recruitment.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Stakeholders from two organizations and one dental school share their experiences and key insights on how to strengthen efforts while minimizing the influence of racism on Black men's participation.

RESULTS

Common insights identified were a need to engage a diverse range of Black men within varying social and economic contexts, race and gender concordance among program leaders and participants, and the value of partnership to reach Black men in places where they feel comfortable and supported.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

These examples stress the imperative of addressing racism among Black men in the development and improvement of targeted oral health interventions. They also emphasize the value of commitment from institutional leadership, relationship building with Black men, and the empowerment of Black men to lead program development and implementation efforts.

Improving Recruitment, Retention, and Cultural Saliency of Health Promotion Efforts Targeting African American Men: A Scoping Review

BACKGROUND

When health promotion efforts intend to include African American men, they experience challenges with recruitment and retention, in addition to limited cultural saliency-interventions that do not align the cultural preferences and experiences of the target population produce less effective results.

PURPOSE

This scoping review provides an understanding of (a) how health promotion efforts among African American men are developed and implemented, in addition to the (b) main outcomes, (c) retention rates, and (d) methodological rigor of those efforts.

METHODS

The following databases were used: PubMed, EMBASE (Ovid), PsycINFO (EBSCO), CINAHL (EBSCO), Web of Science (Clarivate), and ProQuest. Included studies were restricted to those: (a) conducted among African American men and (b) reported the effects of a health promotion intervention. Interventions using single-group pre-post study, post-test-only study, non-randomized controlled trial, and randomized controlled trial (RCT) study designs were included.

RESULTS

The results indicate that varying degrees of customization in the design and implementation of health promotion efforts targeting African American can improve recruitment, retention, and health-related outcomes. Results draw attention to the need for community input when designing and implementing efforts targeting these men.

CONCLUSIONS

These results indicate that opportunities exist to innovate health promotion efforts among African American men, such as the intentional incorporation of the community's values, perspectives, and preferences in the effort (i.e., cultural saliency) and explicitly indicating how the efforts were culturally tailored to improve saliency. Opportunities also exist to innovate health promotion efforts among African American men based on literature-derived best practices.

The Effect of a Personalized Oral Health Education Program on Periodontal Health in an At-Risk Population: A Randomized Controlled Trial

While periodontal disease is associated with many risk factors, socioeconomically disadvantaged communities experience the highest disease burden. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a personalized oral health education program, in combination with routine dental treatment, in participants from a low socioeconomic community. We used a randomized, controlled, examiner-blinded clinical trial. A total of 579 participants (aged 18–60 years) were randomly grouped: the intervention group (n = 292) received a personalized oral health education program in combination with routine dental care and the control group (n = 287) received routine dental care. All participants were assessed for improvement in oral health care behaviors, dental plaque, and periodontal status at baseline, 12 months, and 24 months. We found a significant drop (p < 0.001) in the plaque indices, Periodontal Probing Depths (PPD) and Bleeding on Probing (BOP) between baseline and the 12-month follow-up for both groups. For BOP, the number of sites positive was significantly different between baseline and the 24-month follow-up (p = 0.037). No differences were found between the two groups for any evaluated clinical outcome. The personalized oral health education program used in the current study did not appear to add significant improvement to clinical outcomes of periodontal health compared with routine restorative dental care per se.

Barriers and Facilitators to Promoting Oral Health Literacy and Patient Communication among Dental Providers in California

Studies demonstrate that dental providers value effective provider-patient communication but use few recommended communication techniques. This study explored perspectives of California dental providers and oral health literacy experts in the United States on use of communication techniques. We conducted a qualitative key informant interview study with 50 participants between November 2019 and March 2020, including 44 dental providers (dentists, hygienists, and assistants) in public or private practice in California and 6 oral health literacy (OHL) experts. We undertook thematic analysis of interview transcripts and descriptive statistics about interviewees from pre-surveys. Dental providers reported frequently speaking slowly, and using simple language and models/radiographs to communicate with patients, while infrequently using interpretation/translation, illustrations, teach-back, or motivational interviewing. Providers reported using only 6 of the 18 American Medical Association's (AMA) recommended communication techniques and only 3 of the 7 AMA's basic communication techniques. A majority of providers indicated using one of five oral health assessment and educational strategies. Key barriers to effective communication included limited time, financial incentives promoting treatment over prevention, lack of OHL training, limited plain-language patient education materials, and patients with low OHL knowledge. Dental organizations should prioritize supporting dental providers in effective patient communication practices. Standardizing OHL continuing education, creating an evidence-based OHL toolkit for dental teams, ensuring accessible interpretation/translation services, and incentivizing dental providers to deliver education could improve oral health literacy and outcomes.

No Longer an Island: A Social Network Intervention Engaging Black Men Through CBPR

The aim of this study was to assess outcomes from a multilevel social network intervention to promote the health of Black men. Through a community–academic collaboration and using a participatory research approach, we implemented the intervention over 4 years in a 110-block area of an urban neighborhood. The project aimed to implement a neighborhood peer outreach and leadership network to strengthen social support of Black men and increase community and family engagement. Intervention activities included three 12-month intergenerational peer support groups (N = 46), a door-to-door outreach campaign (N = 186), media and communication efforts, and a community partner network. Primary outcomes for the peer support groups were measured using a pretest/posttest cohort design and included social support, perceived stress, social capital, and global self-esteem. Primary outcomes for the door-to-door outreach campaign were measured using a repeated cross-sectional design and included a sense of community, neighborhood social interaction, perceived neighborhood control, and self-rated health status. Significant findings from the peer support groups included an increase in social support overall (p = .027), driven by improvements in guidance, reliable alliance, and reassurance of worth; and an improvement in perceived stress (p = .047). Significant findings from the door-to-door outreach campaign included increases in neighborhood social interaction (p < .0001) and perceived neighborhood control (p = .036). This project provides evidence that a participatory approach to planning and delivering a health promotion intervention aimed at creating positive social spaces and enhancing social connections can result in significant outcomes and successful engagement of Black men.

Barriers and Facilitators of Dental Care in African-American Seniors: A Qualitative Study of Consumers' Perspective

Objective

To identify African-American seniors' perceptions of the barriers and facilitators to their dental care.

Materials and Methods

In this cross-sectional qualitative study, we conducted in-depth interviews with 16 community-based, self-identified African-American seniors from March 2017 to August 2017 in Oregon. We coded data in ATLAS. ti and used thematic analysis to identify emergent themes within the social ecological framework and a cross-case comparative analysis to explore variation by participant characteristics.

Results

Regardless of dental insurance status, cost and perceived urgency of treatment were the primary drivers of participant's ability and interest in seeking dental care. Participants identified four solutions to improve oral health care in African-American seniors: affordable/free care and vouchers for dental work, better oral health education at a younger age, onsite community dental services, and navigators who can educate patients about insurance and dental providers who see low-income patients.

Conclusions

Oral health decisions by African-American seniors were primarily driven by cost and perceived urgency irrespective of insurance coverage. Affordable dental care, early intervention, on-site services, and navigation may help to address key barriers and reduce oral health disparities faced by African-Americans.

A Community-Based Participatory Approach to the Development and Implementation of an HIV Health Behavior Intervention: Lessons Learned in Navigating Research and Practice Systems from Project HAPPY

African American young adults continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. The Southern United States has been particularly affected by HIV/AIDS, accounting for 52% of the new HIV diagnoses. Efforts to reduce the burden of HIV among young African Americans are still needed. Project HAPPY (HIV/AIDS Prevention Project for Youth) was developed and implemented using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) model. There were several challenges that arose during implementation of Project HAPPY that included recruitment, partner engagement, and retention. The realities of implementing an HIV prevention project with urban adolescents is discussed in detail and strategies to overcome these challenges, using a CBPR approach are described. The lessons learned from CBPR implementation of Project HAPPY include: (1) Create a feedback loop to receive community input and guidance throughout the life of the project; (2) Periodic community inventory to determine who is providing similar services to avoid saturation; (3) Prepare for Alternative Partner Engagement; (4) Consult (formally and informally) with the Institutional Review Board prior to submitting proposed changes to avoid unnecessary delays in implementation; (5) Select meaningful incentives for your priority population; and (6) Maintain multiple points of contact with community partners to mitigate the effects of staff turnover.

Effectiveness of Health Belief Model on Oral Cancer Prevention in Smoker Men

The purpose of the present study is investigating the effect of educational intervention based on health belief model (HBM) on oral cancer prevention in smoker men. This is a quasi-experimental study carried out on 200 smoker men with the age of 40 or older (100 subjects for the experimental group and 100 subjects for control group) resident in Fasa City, Fars Province, Iran, in 2017-2018. The educational intervention for the experimental group included seven educational sessions for 50 or 55 min-based HBM. A questionnaire consisted of items about demographic information, knowledge, HBM constructs (perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, self-efficacy, and cues to action) was used to measure the oral cancer prevention before and 6 months after the intervention. The mean age of the men was 51.35±8.41 years in the experimental group and 52.28±8.09 years in the control group. Based on the obtained results, significant enhancement is observed in average scores of knowledge, perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, self-efficacy, cues to action, and oral cancer prevention behaviors in experimental group; however, no significant changes are observed in average scores of knowledge, perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, self-efficacy, cues to action, and oral cancer prevention behaviors of control group. Also, results indicated that, the educational program based on HBM model have positive effect on oral cancer prevention with the improvement of subject's knowledge, perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, and self-efficacy.

Association of Oral Health Literacy and Dental Visitation in an Inner-City Emergency Department Population

To examine the association between oral health literacy (OHL) with sociodemographic variables and dental visitation in adults presenting to an urban emergency department (ED). Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of a convenience sample of 556 adults aged 18⁻90. Interview data from the study were used to collect self-reported sociodemographic characteristics and dental visitation history. The OHL of the study participants was measured using the Health Literacy in Dentistry scale (HeLD-14), and the score was dichotomized into low and high OHL. Bivariate associations between sociodemographic variables and OHL were conducted using chi-square tests, and logistic regression was used to examine the association between OHL and dental visitation within the past year. Results: Sixty percent of participants reported having visited a dentist within the past year. Over two-thirds of the sample was classified as having low OHL. Low OHL was more common in non-White races, less-educated, single, unemployed, and lower-income individuals, and those without a primary care physician or dental insurance (p < 0.05). Patients with low oral health literacy were 39% less likely to have visited the dentist in the past year (OR = 0.61; 95% CI 0.38, 0.96). Conclusions: This study highlights significant disparities in OHL. Interventions targeted toward the unique needs of underserved populations should be developed to improve health outcomes.