SAPNA Oral Health Project

描述(申请人提供)：本申请描述了Sapna口腔健康项目，这是一个以初级保健为基础的干预措施，旨在改善来自孟加拉国移民社区的幼儿的口腔健康和预防龋齿，孟加拉国移民社区是一个来自南亚的快速增长的移民群体，几乎没有受到研究人员的关注。该项目将在一个新的初级保健研究网络SAPPHIRE(南亚改善健康和研究实践伙伴关系)中实施。在美国，龋齿是影响大多数贫困儿童和少数民族儿童的问题。南亚移民儿童患龋齿的风险特别高，患龋率几乎是当地人口的两倍。各种结构性因素，包括社会和经济剥夺、语言孤立、难以获得口腔保健以及南亚常见的婴儿喂养做法，都是造成这一问题的原因。具体目标包括根据赋权理论制定、实施和评估针对6-18个月大儿童的孟加拉母亲的全面口腔健康试点干预措施。所有参与者(n=75)将以简短的教育信息和初级保健医生转介口腔健康的形式得到加强的日常护理。对于干预参与者，南亚社区健康导航员(CHNS)将提供两次产妇和家庭咨询支持，使用强调家庭力量、知识和优先事项的授权模式，随后在进行和保持口腔健康访问方面提供患者导航支持，并在12个月的研究期间提供三次后续电话支持。这项干预措施的制定和评估将涉及初级保健提供者、诊所工作人员、项目小组成员、现场工作人员和患者之间的参与性数据收集，以确保干预措施的可接受性和可行性。如果该项目成功，调查人员将申请资金对Sapna进行正式测试。 与公共卫生相关：南亚人在美国是一个快速增长的群体，但仍未得到充分研究。由于儿童喂养习惯和口腔卫生，以及缺乏获得口腔保健的机会，南亚儿童的儿童期患龋率极高。对南亚人进行文化上适当的行为干预，以解决儿童龋齿风险，是至关重要的公共卫生优先事项。本申请中描述的项目有可能成为初级保健-社区协作干预的典范，可用于类似的文化和语言上孤立的群体。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application describes the SAPNA Oral Health Project, a primary care based intervention designed to improve oral health and prevent dental caries in young children from the Bangladeshi immigrant community, a fast-growing immigrant group from South Asia that has received little attention from researchers. The project will be implemented in a new primary care research network, SAPPHIRE (South Asian Practice Partnership for Health Improvement and Research). Dental caries is a problem affecting the majority of poor and ethnic minority children in the United States. South Asian immigrant children are at particularly high risk for dental caries with rates nearly double that of native populations. A variety of structural factors, including social and economic deprivation, linguistic isolation, and difficulty accessing oral health care, and common South Asian infant feeding practices contribute to this problem. Specific aims involve the development, implementation and evaluation of a comprehensive oral health pilot intervention, based on Empowerment Theory, directed at Bangladeshi mothers of children aged 6-18 months. All participants (n=75) will receive enhanced usual care in the form of brief educational messages and oral health referrals by the primary care physician. For intervention participants, South Asian Community Health Navigators (CHNs) will provide two sessions of maternal and familial counseling support using an empowerment model that emphasizes the family's strengths, knowledge, and priorities, followed by patient navigation support in making and keeping an oral health visit, and three follow up phone calls to provide support during the twelve month study period. Development and evaluation of this intervention will involve participatory data collection among primary care providers, clinic staff, project team members, field staff, and patients in order to insure the acceptability and feasibility of the intervention. If the project is successful, investigators will apply for funds to conduct a formal test of SAPNA. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: South Asians are a rapidly growing group in the United States, but remain understudied. South Asian children experience extremely high rates of childhood caries, due to child feeding practices and oral hygiene, as well as lack of access to oral health care. Culturally appropriate behavioral interventions for South Asians that address childhood caries risk are a vital public health priority. The project described in this application has potential to serve as a model for primary care-community collaborative interventions that can be used in similar culturally and linguistically isolated groups.