Dientes Fuertes, Vida Sana: A culturally competent program to prevent primary tooth decay in low-income Latino children

This paper presents findings from an evaluation of Dientes Fuertes, Vida Sana (DFVS), a culturally competent program to prevent early childhood caries (ECC) in low-income Latino children. Compared to other demographic groups, low-income Latino children experience disproportionate rates of ECC. In California alone, 72 percent of Latino children have ECC. These children are at greater risk of short- and long-term physical, psychosocial, and economic consequences associated with ECC. DFVS targets this vulnerable population by training promotores de salud (PS) at Latino-serving community-based organizations (CBOs) to conduct outreach and oral health education, including oral health literacy and system navigation, to Latino parents of children ages zero to six.

We evaluated the DFVS pilot program to assess the extent to which exposure to DFVS relates to positive changes in PS knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, and intentions to conduct outreach and health education to low-income Latino parents

We collected primary quantitative data from 160 PS. We used a pretest/post-test quasi-experimental design to explore the statistical relationship between exposure to DFVS and dependent variables of the program’s efficacy. Findings suggest the DFVS prototype increases PS knowledge, self-efficacy, and intentions but we saw little change on attitudinal measures, which were high at baseline. The study findings more broadly indicate that a PS training program can effectively prepare PS with the knowledge and skills to conduct outreach and oral health education to Latino parents.