142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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311927
Promoting Oral Health and Community-Based Participatory Research: The Minority Men's Oral Health and Dental Access Program (MOHDAP)

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Calvin McAllister, MPH , Pittsburgh Community Improvement Association, Inc, Atlanta, GA
LaShawn Hoffman , Pittsburgh Community Improvment Association, Inc., Atlanta, GA
Tabia Akintobi, PhD, MPH , Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine Prevention Research Center, Atlanta, GA
Monique Eppinger, MPH , Fulton County Government Center, Fulton County Government Center, Atlanta, GA
Brittney Newton, MPH , Pittsburgh Community Improvement Association, Inc., Atlanta, GA
Lisa Goodin, MBA , Prevention Research Center, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA
Donoria Evans, PhDc, MPH , Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine Prevention Research Center, Atlanta, GA
Assia Miller, MD, MPH , Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA
Objective:  To educate, engage and empower African American men to practice and use oral health information, impact peer attitudes and beliefs regarding oral health care, and facilitate community linkages toward optimal oral health care by utilizing a community-based participatory infrastructure and an educational intervention that demonstrate the importance of oral health and its relationship to overall health.

Methods:  Recruited 50 African American men across City of Atlanta, Georgia Neighborhood Planning Units (NPUs) V, X, Y and Z to participate in The Minority Men's Oral Health and Dental Access Program (MOHDAP). We used a community-based engagement approach to recruit the participants.

Improved the oral health knowledge, attitudes and leadership capacities among up to 50 African American men. We conducted the oral health community education training and health resource sharing across the identified NPUs. Men who enrolled in MOHDAP participated in educational sessions to increase the oral health knowledge regarding the determinants to poor oral health and its relationship to overall health and to develop capacities to carry out oral health assessment surveys in their communities. They completed an oral health needs assessment prior to the educational sessions (pre) and directly following completion (post) to determine changes in oral health knowledge, risks, perceptions and attitudes.

 Results: The majority of respondents indicated satisfaction with the curriculum content (95.4%), training materials (95.5%), and facilitation (93.2%-97.7%). 92.7% indicated overall satisfaction with the training event. The pre- and post-curriculum assessment included items to identify comprehension of key terms and information shared during the training sessions. The majority of items showed an increase from pre- to post-test.

Conclusions: Continue the use of CBPR and use of educational interventions that demonstrate the importance of oral health and its relationship to chronic disease and other health conditions, to improve the overall quality of life.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Advocacy for health and health education
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Epidemiology

Learning Objectives:
Demonstrate how the implementation of community-based participatory research (CBPR) at the neighborhood level can help improve oral health awareness by educating African American males about the importance of oral health through dental health training sessions and assessment of oral health needs, attitudes and practices.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Calvin McAllister, MPH serves as the Program Director and has been responsible for the day-to-day management of MOHDAP deliverables. Mr. McAllister is an employee with PCIA and is a MSM Master of Public Health graduate with a concentration in Health Education and Health Promotion. He has experience working with urban communities on community development issues, community coalition building and has public health expertise in the areas of aging and environmental health.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.