Implementing Evidence-based Behavioral Skills in Pediatric Oral Healthcare Providers

Project Summary/Abstract The overall goal of this 7-year UG3/UH3 collaborative project is to develop an interventional training for oral healthcare professionals based on behavioral skills determined to positively impact adult-child interactions in pediatric dental care. The goal of this line of research is to measure the mechanisms involved in the effectiveness of this training on dental provider utilization of these skills, and how skill utilization affects satisfaction, adherence, and behaviors of very young children (under the age of 6) and their parents/caregivers. Two years of funding will be required to align community partners, develop a training protocol, test procedures, and prepare staff. The following five years will be needed to recruit, deliver, and measure outcomes of this unique training. This project will align community- and university-based dental providers (dentists, hygienists, assistants) with a research team to develop and test the effects of a training workshop on outcomes related to provider implementation (acceptability, understanding, feasibility, system climate, and system support), training (provider knowledge, fidelity, skill use, acceptability, satisfaction), and caregiver-child experiences within a dental appointment (child cooperation, distress, and pain, as well as family acceptability and satisfaction). With an innovative training based on a well-established behavior management program for preschoolers, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), findings from this project will reveal if oral health care providers’ responsivity to children’s developmental needs can be changed and effectively impact the experience of dental care in very young children. The valuable connections with community partners in the states of West Virginia, Arkansas, and North Carolina allow this study to be both feasible and representative of a large variety of dental settings. The project is designed to train dental providers on a few key skills that could greatly impact child comfort in the dental office and create a foundation for future curriculum development for all dental staff. The long-term goal is to disseminate an effective training package for students of dentistry and current dental providers on a large scale that helps dental providers reduce child distress. Specifically, the ultimate intent is to disseminate this concise, effective skills training framework to enhance the use of positive and developmentally-sensitive strategies within the oral health treatment of the youngest patients.