Promoting oral health where people live: Public housing resident health advocates

The organizing framework of the Center for Research to Evaluate and Eliminate Dental Disparities [CREEDD], located at Boston University's Goldman School of Dental Medicine, is to identify effective means by which to engage non-dental providers in oral health promotion, and to extend the venues for oral health promotion to non-clinical care settings. Under this framework, one the Center's main objectives is to develop, test and evaluate community-based interventions designed to reduce oral health disparities. Over the last few years, CREEDD has utilized the tenets of community-based participatory research to engage residents of Boston Public Housing in CREEDD activities. The Boston Housing Authority [BHA] houses a large community of primarily disadvantaged racial and ethnic minorities where significant health disparities are known to exist. Along with the BHA, CREEDD has worked collaboratively with the Boston Health and Housing Prevention Research Center [BHH-PRC] to implement a CREEDD funded pilot project to conduct focus groups of Hispanic mothers aimed at understanding oral health perceptions and gaining insight on intervention strategies. The project utilized Resident Health Advocates [RHA]—residents trained to support projects related to health—who served as liaisons between CREEDD and study subjects. Additionally, the support of onsite Tenant Taskforces and Resource and Development Centers, both staffed by residents, were valuable in organizing research activities and assisting RHA's with recruitment. Developing an effective partnership which engages residents has been critical to gaining entry into this community, identifying motivated community leaders, and engaging community members in developing successful interventions and implementation strategies.

Support by U54DE14264