Implementing Evidence-based Behavioral Skills in Pediatric Oral Healthcare Providers

Project Summary/Abstract
The overall goal of this 7-year UG3/UH3 collaborative project is to develop an interventional
training for oral healthcare professionals based on behavioral skills determined to positively
impact adult-child interactions in pediatric dental care. The goal of this line of research is
to measure the mechanisms involved in the effectiveness of this training on dental
provider utilization of these skills, and how skill utilization affects satisfaction,
adherence, and behaviors of very young children (under the age of 6) and their
parents/caregivers. Two years of funding will be required to align community partners,
develop a training protocol, test procedures, and prepare staff. The following five years will be
needed to recruit, deliver, and measure outcomes of this unique training.
This project will align community- and university-based dental providers (dentists,
hygienists, assistants) with a research team to develop and test the effects of a training
workshop on outcomes related to provider implementation (acceptability, understanding,
feasibility, system climate, and system support), training (provider knowledge, fidelity, skill use,
acceptability, satisfaction), and caregiver-child experiences within a dental appointment (child
cooperation, distress, and pain, as well as family acceptability and satisfaction). With an
innovative training based on a well-established behavior management program for preschoolers,
Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), findings from this project will reveal if oral health
care providers’ responsivity to children’s developmental needs can be changed and effectively
impact the experience of dental care in very young children.
The valuable connections with community partners in the states of West Virginia, Arkansas,
and North Carolina allow this study to be both feasible and representative of a large variety of
dental settings. The project is designed to train dental providers on a few key skills that could
greatly impact child comfort in the dental office and create a foundation for future curriculum
development for all dental staff. The long-term goal is to disseminate an effective training
package for students of dentistry and current dental providers on a large scale that helps dental
providers reduce child distress. Specifically, the ultimate intent is to disseminate this
concise, effective skills training framework to enhance the use of positive and
developmentally-sensitive strategies within the oral health treatment of the
youngest patients.