Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Mar 9;9(1):36.
doi: 10.1186/s40814-023-01269-3.

A feasibility and acceptability study of screening the parents/guardians of pediatric dental patients for the social determinants of health

Raghbir Kaur  1 , Martin Lieberman  2 , Margaret K Mason  3 , Isaac P Dapkins  4 , Rebecca Gallager  5 , Kathleen Hopkins  6 , Yinxiang Wu  7 , Andrea B Troxel  8 , Ayah Rashwan  1 , Chelsea Hope  1 , Daniel J Kane  9 , Mary E Northridge  10
Affiliations

A feasibility and acceptability study of screening the parents/guardians of pediatric dental patients for the social determinants of health

Raghbir Kaur et al. Pilot Feasibility Stud. .

Abstract

Background: The social determinants of health (SDOH) are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age. Lack of SDOH training of dental providers on SDOH may result in suboptimal care provided to pediatric dental patients and their families. The purpose of this pilot study is to report the feasibility and acceptability of SDOH screening and referral by pediatric dentistry residents and faculty in the dental clinics of Family Health Centers at NYU Langone (FHC), a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) network in Brooklyn, NY, USA.

Methods: Guided by the Implementation Outcomes Framework, 15 pediatric dentists and 40 pediatric dental patient-parent/guardian dyads who visited FHC in 2020-2021 for recall or treatment appointments participated in this study. The a priori feasibility and acceptability criteria for these outcomes were that after completing the Parent Adversity Scale (a validated SDOH screening tool), ≥ 80% of the participating parents/guardians would feel comfortable completing SDOH screening and referral at the dental clinic (acceptable), and ≥ 80% of the participating parents/guardians who endorsed SDOH needs would be successfully referred to an assigned counselor at the Family Support Center (feasible).

Results: The most prevalent SDOH needs endorsed were worried within the past year that food would run out before had money to buy more (45.0%) and would like classes to learn English, read better, or obtain a high school degree (45.0%). Post-intervention, 83.9% of the participating parents/guardians who expressed an SDOH need were successfully referred to an assigned counselor at the Family Support Center for follow-up, and 95.0% of the participating parents/guardians felt comfortable completing the questionnaire at the dental clinic, surpassing the a priori feasibility and acceptability criteria, respectively. Furthermore, while most (80.0%) of the participating dental providers reported being trained in SDOH, only one-third (33.3%) usually or always assess SDOH for their pediatric dental patients, and most (53.8%) felt minimally comfortable discussing challenges faced by pediatric dental patient families and referring patients to resources in the community.

Conclusions: This study provides novel evidence of the feasibility and acceptability of SDOH screening and referral by dentists in the pediatric dental clinics of an FQHC network.

Keywords: Community health centers; Community resources; Delivery of health care; Federally Qualified Health Center; Health equity; Interprofessional education; Pediatric dentistry; Quality of health care; Screening; Social determinants of health (10; limit = 10).

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

References

    1. World Health Organization. Social determinants of health. 2022. https://www.who.int/health-topics/social-determinants-of-health#tab=tab_1. Accessed 22 Jun 2022.
    1. Oral health in America: a report of the surgeon general . Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health. 2000.
    1. Oral health in America: advances and challenges . Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health. 2021.
    1. Oral health surveillance report: trends in dental caries and sealants, tooth retention, and edentulism, United States, 1999–2004 to 2011–2016. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.cdc.gov/oralhealth/publications/OHSR-2019-index.html. Accessed 22 Jun 2022.
    1. Fernando S, Tadakamadla SK, Bakr M, Scuffham PA, Johnson NW. Indicators of risk for dental caries in children: a holistic approach. JDR Clin Trans Res. 2019;4(4):333–341. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources