Online Program

337120
Unmet Dental Care Needs Children with Special Health Care Needs


Wednesday, November 4, 2015 : 1:30 p.m. - 1:50 p.m.

Dione King, PhD, MSW, Department of Social Work, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL
Justice Mbizo, MS. Dr.PH, Department of Public Health, The University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL
Erica Jordan, PhD, Developmental Psychology, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL
Anthony Okafor, PhD, Mathematics and Statistics, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL
Background:  Children with special health have many challenges that impact the quality of life and socialization. During this critical development stages, it is critical that children with special circumstances have their health care needs met. The purpose of the study is to examine the prevalence and correlates of dental services utilization among children with special health care needs.  Methods:  The National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) is a national probability survey of children that includes the physical and mental health status, access to quality health care, including information on the child’s family, neighborhood and social context.  Data for 5, 503 children with a diagnosis of depression, developmental disability or autism spectrum disorders were weighted and analyzed using STATA 12.0 for Windows.  Alpha of 0.05 was used for all significance levels.  Results:  The sample mean age was 10.9 (SD =4.39); 36.8% were female, of whom 34.8% had dental care comapred to 50.2% males; 68.3% White, 15.6% African American and 16.1% Other racial groups. At the multivariate general model, African American children were 57% less than white children to have dental care (OR=0.43; 95% CI: 0.23 -0.80; p<0.01). Among whites, race (OR=2.7; p <0.02). Parental social support (OR=2.6; p<0.001) and having autism (OR=5.6; p<0.02) among African American is associated with increased use of dental services. Having insurance was significantly associated with high dental use. Conclusions: Implications for public health policy and practice will be discussed among with further results of stratified analysis.

Learning Areas:

Advocacy for health and health education
Chronic disease management and prevention
Other professions or practice related to public health
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Describe the prevalence of unmet healthcare needs in children with special health care needs Critically discuss the determinants of disparities in dental services utilization in children with special healthcare needs Discuss policy changes for addressing health disparities

Keyword(s): Children With Special Needs, Oral Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: The author and presenter is an experienced biostatistics faculty with extensive research using large datasets. I am also returning presenter at APHA.
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.