Exploring Determinants to HPV-Related Oral Health Literacy among Dental Providers

描述(申请人提供)：这项探索性拨款建议回应了NCI/NIDCR PAR-13-132：了解和促进健康素养(R21)，旨在了解目前牙科提供者(牙医和牙齿卫生员)关于人乳头瘤病毒(HPV)相关口腔疾病的口腔健康素养。“健康素养不仅关乎个别患者，还包括保健提供者和其他决策者”.1扩大健康素养的传统应用，仅侧重于患者获取、处理和理解健康信息的能力，2这项探索性拨款审查牙科提供者的健康素养及其在患者中促进与HPV相关的健康素养的能力。 目前参与预防HPV相关无生殖器癌症(如宫颈癌和肛门癌)的初级保健提供者包括儿科医生、家庭从业者和妇产科医生。3新出现的证据表明HPV与口咽癌(头颈部)有关，这就要求牙科提供者成为下一批将参与HPV相关癌症预防的初级保健提供者。5、6作为回应，美国牙医协会(ADA)建议牙医“对自己和他们的病人进行HPV与口咽癌之间的关系的教育……”7因此，至关重要的是，牙科提供者要意识到HPV和口咽癌之间的联系，并准备好向病人传达有关HPV的信息。8尽管认识到牙科提供者在告知病人有关HPV和口咽癌方面的作用，但专业协会尚未就牙科提供者应如何与病人讨论这些联系提供指导或教育工具。因此，我们的研究以以下具体目标为指导：1)通过在全国会议上与牙科提供者开展焦点小组活动，了解牙科提供者中HPV相关口腔健康素养的现状。2)通过对牙科专业协会官员和意见领袖的深入访谈，确定促进HPV相关口腔健康素养的多层次系统因素。3)创建一个系统模型(基于目标1和目标2)，用于未来的开发和测试，通过与研究团队和专家小组的系统思维方法，在个人、社会、经济和专业层面提高牙科提供者与HPV相关的健康素养。这些目标有助于该研究的总体目标，即确定和模拟牙科提供者口腔健康素养的多水平决定因素。这项研究具有创新性，因为它让牙科提供者参与初级预防工作，并且是及时的，因为它响应了2020年健康人的三个目标，以及降低口咽癌发病率的日益增长的需求。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This exploratory grant proposal responds to NCI/NIDCR PAR-13-132: Understanding and Promoting Health Literacy (R21), and aims to understand current oral health literacy of dental providers (dentists and dental hygienists) regarding human papillomavirus (HPV)-related oral disease. "Health literacy is not just about individual patients, but also includes health care providers and other decision makers".1 Broadening traditional applications of health literacy that focus exclusively on patients' ability o obtain, process, and understand health information,2 this exploratory grant examines dental providers' health literacy and their ability to promote HPV-related health literacy among patients. Current primary care providers involved in the prevention of HPV-related ano-genital cancers (e.g. cervical and anal) include pediatricians, family practitioners and OB/GYNs.3 The emerging evidence linking HPV and oropharyngeal cancers (head and neck) necessitates that dental providers become the next group of primary care providers who will become involved in HPV-related cancer prevention. Despite an overall reduction in the incidence of oral cavity and pharynx cancers in the US,4 the incidence of HPV-related oropharyngeal cancers has increased.5,6 In response, the American Dental Association (ADA) recommends dentists "educate themselves and their patients about the relationship between HPV and oropharyngeal cancer..."7 It is therefore critical that dental providers are aware of HPV and oropharyngeal cancer connections and be prepared to communicate information about HPV to patients.8 Despite recognizing the role dental providers play in informing patients about HPV and oropharyngeal cancers, professional associations have not yet provided guidelines or educational tools for how dental providers should discuss these connections with patients. Our study is therefore guided by the following specific aims: 1) Understand the current state of HPV-related oral health literacy among dental providers by conducting focus groups with dental providers at national conferences. 2) Determine multilevel system factors for promoting HPV-related oral health literacy through in-depth interviews with dental professional association officers and opinion leaders. 3) Create a systems model (based on Aims 1 and 2) for future development and testing for increasing HPV-related health literacy among dental providers at intrapersonal, social, economic, and professional levels via a systems-thinking approach with the research team and expert panel. These aims contribute to the study's overall objective to identify and model multilevel determinants for oral health literacy among dental providers. This study is innovative as it engages dental providers in primary prevention efforts, and is timely in that it responds to three Healthy People 2020 objectives, as well as a growing need for reducing the rate of oropharyngeal cancers.