Influence of Community Networks on Oral Health/Behaviors among Hispanics

描述（由申请人提供）：在美国的拉丁美洲人经常遭受口腔健康不良。他们的牙科保险覆盖率是任何少数民族中最低的，他们的牙科文化往往与仅仅对疼痛和急性疾病做出反应的行为有关。拉丁美洲人的口腔健康研究迄今仅限于在个人层面上的一些社会经济和社会文化变量的特征。在这个R21应用程序中，我们提出了一个新的，探索性的研究，一个有界的社区网络的墨西哥人后裔。我们的短期目标是探索应用网络科学研究方法的效用，以提高我们对口腔健康行为的理解。我们的具体目标是1）描述的性质和分布的社会网络关系，口腔健康风险和保护行为，并使用牙科保健在一个现有的社区网络的墨西哥裔美国人;和2）检查的程度和性质的社会网络影响的口腔健康风险和保护行为，并利用牙科保健的个人在这个社区。这样的基本结构将允许（在未来的项目中）对比和改进模型与相关数据 到美国或墨西哥的其他地区、其他西班牙裔群体、其他少数族裔，和/或产生新的模式。更清楚地了解有助于改善健康行为的因素将为制定更明智的公共政策，最新的临床指南，文化敏感的临床和预防护理以及未来的研究方向提供基础。特别感兴趣的是获得对网络结构和关系的上级理解，这些网络结构和关系可能是修改社区中参与者之间关系的关键切入点-重点放在那些对有效传播可操作的、准确的和重要的健康和医疗保健信息更具影响力的中心。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Latinos in the USA often suffer poor oral health. Their dental insurance coverage is the lowest of any minority, and their dental culture is often associated with behaviors that merely react to pain and acute conditions. Studies of oral health among Latinos have hitherto been limited to characterization of a few socio- economic and socio-cultural variables at the individual level. In this R21 application we propose a novel, exploratory study of a well-bounded community network of people of Mexican descent. Our short term objective is to explore the utility of applying network science research methods to improve our understanding of oral health behaviors. Our specific aims are to 1) describe the nature and distribution of social network ties, oral health risk and protective behaviors, and use of dental care within one existing community network of people of Mexican descent in the USA; and 2) examine the extent and nature of social network influence on the oral health risk and protective behavior, and the utilization of dental care of individuals within this community. Such basic structure will allow (in future projects) to contrast and refine the model with data relevant to other regions in the USA or Mexico, other Hispanic groups, other minorities, and/or generate new models. Having clearer knowledge about the factors contributing to better health behaviors will provide a foundation to craft better informed public policy, up-to-date clinical guidelines, culturally sensitive clinical and preventive care, and future research directions. Of particular interest would be to attain a superior understanding of the network structures and ties that may present key entry points to modify the relationships between actors in the community - with emphasis placed among those hubs that would be more influential to effectively disseminate actionable, accurate, and significant health and health care information.