Interprofessional collaboration and smartphone use as promising strategies to improve prenatal oral health care utilization among US underserved women: results from a qualitative study

Abstract

Background Data on barriers and facilitators to prenatal oral health care among low-income US women are lacking. The objective of this study was to understand barriers/facilitators and patient-centered mitigation strategies related to the use of prenatal oral health care among underserved US women. Methods We used community-based participatory research to conduct two focus groups with eight pregnant/parenting women; ten individual in-depth interviews with medical providers, dental providers and community/social workers; and one community engagement studio with five representative community stakeholders in 2018–2019. Using an interpretive description research design, we conducted semi-structured interviews and focus groups which were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for thematic content. Results We identified individual and systemic barriers/facilitators to the utilization of prenatal oral health care by underserved US women. Strategies reported to improve utilization included healthcare system-wide changes to promote inter-professional collaborations, innovative educational programs to improve dissemination and implementation of prenatal oral health care guidelines, and specialized dental facilities providing prenatal oral health care to underserved women. Moreover, smartphones have the potential to be an innovative entry point to promote utilization of prenatal oral care at the individual level. Conclusions Low-income women face multiple, addressable barriers to obtaining oral health care during pregnancy. Inter-professional collaboration holds strong promise for improving prenatal oral health care utilization.

Construction of the Digital Health Equity-Focused Implementation Research Conceptual Model - Bridging the Divide Between Equity-focused Digital Health and Implementation Research

“…Program recommendations for equity-sensitive digital health implementations include focus on software ease of use, training and assistance programs, realistic scenario development, human-centered design principles, and tailoring technologies to target regions [ 42 , 44 , 45 , 47 , 51 – 54 ]. In some cases, it may be appropriate to collaborate with social benefit programs to reach patients [ 55 ]. Cost and payor coverage must also be considered during planning [ 56 ].…”

Interdisciplinaridade na Saúde Bucal da Gestante na Perspectiva do Enfermeiro

“…26,28 Da mesma forma, fragilidades macroespecíficas representadas por mudanças no sistema de saúde para promoção de colaborações interprofissionais, desenvolvimento de programas educacionais inovadores de disseminação e implementação de protocolos para saúde bucal na gestão e consolidação de modelos de atendimento odontológicos específicos para o pré-natal evidenciam as vulnerabilidades existentes para consolidação de atenção em saúde bucal na gestação. 28,29 Destarte, nos últimos anos avanços foram efetuados nas políticas de saúde bucal no Brasil. Os serviços odontológicos, após a Política Nacional de Saúde Bucal de 2004, ampliaram-se para garantir integralidade e efetividade de atenção odontológica para população, através do conhecimento da realidade de saúde.…”

Assessing a Smartphone App (AICaries) That Uses Artificial Intelligence to Detect Dental Caries in Children and Provides Interactive Oral Health Education: Protocol for a Design and Usability Testing Study

“…With 77% of all age American individuals [ 13 ] and more than 85% of lower-income mid-age American individuals [ 14 , 15 ] owning a smartphone, a smartphone app presents as a suitable and innovative way of providing oral health interventions. Recently, mobile dentistry has been brought up by researchers to promote oral health care at a broad population base [ 16 , 17 ]; however, current oral health smartphone apps are limited in scope and audience. First, compared to the large amount of available medical health apps in the commercial app store, the number of apps that are oral health focused is minimal.…”