Influence of Community Networks on Oral Health/Behaviors among Hispanics

描述(申请人提供)：在美国的拉美裔美国人的口腔健康状况很差。他们的牙科保险覆盖面是所有少数民族中最低的，他们的牙科文化往往与只对疼痛和急性疾病做出反应的行为有关。迄今为止，对拉丁美洲人口腔健康的研究仅限于在个人层面上描述少数社会经济和社会文化变量。在这个R21应用中，我们提出了一个新颖的、探索性的研究，研究的是墨西哥裔人的良好社区网络。我们的短期目标是探索应用网络科学研究方法来提高我们对口腔健康行为的理解的效用。我们的具体目标是1)描述社会网络联系的性质和分布，口腔健康风险和保护行为，以及在美国一个现有的墨西哥裔社区网络中对牙齿护理的使用；以及2)检查社会网络对该社区内个人的口腔健康风险和保护行为以及对牙齿护理的利用的影响的程度和性质。这样的基本结构将允许(在未来的项目中)将模型与相关数据进行对比和改进 到美国或墨西哥的其他地区，其他拉美裔群体，其他少数民族，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，将为制定更知情的公共政策、最新的临床指南、对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。特别感兴趣的是更好地了解网络结构和联系，这些网络结构和联系可能是修改社区行为者之间关系的关键切入点--重点放在那些将更具影响力的中心，以有效传播可操作的、准确的和重要的卫生保健信息。

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.