A Peer-Led, Popular Education-Based Oral Health Promotion Curriculum Targeting Latino and Migrant Communities

Background and Aims: Public health initiatives had used people from the community to improve awareness about prevalent diseases that affect their communities. To our knowledge, there is no data in how methods based on active participation and experiential techniques impacts the knowledge and help that health promoters give to their communities. We developed an interactive and culturally responsive education-based oral health curriculum targeting community health promoters from migrant Latino populations in Illinois with the purpose of training them to conduct oral health education and referrals. Methods: We met with 21 Latino health promoters from rural Illinois (age 38.5+/-13.3, Male/Female= 9/12) and determined the most important oral health concerns that people from their communities had as follows: 1) Functions of the teeth; 2) dental cavities; 3) periodontal disease; 4) nutrition; 5) dental emergencies and 6) oral health prevention and promotion. The cornerstone of this training consisted in “hands-on” activities. For each oral concern we developed a) objectives; b) materials and c) activities. Health promoters received a dental tool kit with the program, materials, and information needed for their training. To evaluate the training program, we used pre and post training surveys. Results: From a total number of 22 questions, the mean number of correct answers was 13.82 (+/- 3.16) for the pre-training survey versus 18 (+/- 2.14) for the post-training survey. This result was statistically significant (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: This interactive and culturally responsive Popular Education-based oral health training was effective to improve dental health awareness among Latino Health promoters.