69 - A healthy smile begins with a child: Increasing community health worker knowledge of oral health through GRIN

Abstract:

Objective: Primary tooth decay significantly predicts lifelong oral health issues and compounds systemic inequity experienced by children of color. Guardians’ low oral health literacy and system navigator challenges are two risk factors that predict primary and permanent tooth decay and related negative outcomes among Black youth, defined as children and adolescents, in low-resource households. The Guardians Receiving Information through Navigators (GRIN) training for community health workers (CHW) aimed to increase CHWs’ knowledge, self-efficacy, and intentions to conduct oral health care outreach to low-resource Black guardians.

Methods: We collected primary quantitative data from June 2022 to September 2022 from over 100 CHWs in a randomized, two-group, pretest/posttest design. Participants in the treatment group reviewed two 30-minute video modules on oral health care for children and adolescents before answering the posttest survey.

Results: The sample included 107 community health workers: 88.7% female and 32.7% Black. While there was no difference between control and treatment group participants’ knowledge and self-efficacy at pretest, the treatment group had significantly higher scores in knowledge (p < 0.001) and self-efficacy (p < 0.01) compared to the control group at posttest. Within the treatment group, knowledge (p < 0.001), self-efficacy (p < 0.001), and intentions (p < 0.05) all increased significantly from pretest to posttest.

Conclusion: Findings indicate that GRIN has the potential to prepare CHWs to conduct oral healthcare outreach, emphasize the importance of oral health, and encourage low-resource Black guardians to seek oral healthcare for their youth. The GRIN program addresses a gap in the market and can complement traditional oral health care through CHW outreach.

Source of Funding: This research was supported by Small Business Innovation Research Grant R43MD016352 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The content in this publication is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIDA or NIH.