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Grant Funding & Opportunities
Research Training - Summer Institute Programs
ADHA National Dental Hygiene Research Agenda
Health Promotion/Disease Prevention
Priorities concerned with health maintenance, disease prevention, public health policy, advocacy and legislation.
- Assess the effectiveness of the communication process between the client and dental hygienist that leads to oral wellness.
- Assess the effectiveness of dental hygienists in counseling patients regarding prevention and cessation of tobacco use.
- Explore public policy issues related to oral health care.
- Identify, describe and explain ways to promote equitable access to oral health care.
- Assess the cost-effectiveness of various oral health interventions (fluorides, sealants) in promoting oral health.
- Develop and test easy to use self-assessment instruments to assist individuals of all ages in learning the signs and symptoms of oral diseases.
- Investigate ethnic/cultural group differences as they relate to the promotion of oral health and preventive behaviors.
- Investigate legislative initiaitives on issues such as those that promote autonomy and decision-making by dental hygienists.
- Investigate the concept of oral health self-care among all age, social and cultural groups.
- Describe, explain or predict the relationship between environmental factors (culture, society, income, education) and oral health behaviors.
- Explain or predict client oral health attitudes, knowledge and behavior.
- Assess the impact of third parties on access to and utilization of oral health care services.
- Identify ways in which the unique role of the dental hygienist in the health care delivery system can be effectively communicated.
Education
Priorities concerned with theory development, educational methods, curricula, students and faculty.
- Develop a predictive model for future needs/demands for dental hygiene personnel.
- Identify the factors leading to curriculum modification and reform in dental hygiene academic programs.
- Investigate the extent to which new research findings are incorporated into the dental hygiene curriculum.
- Investigate the extent to which students are taught critical thinking and decision-making skills.
- Investigate the extent to which students are taught self-assessment and evaluation skills.
Clinical/Primary Care
Priorities addressing dental hygiene intervention, decision making, dental hygiene diagnosis, quality of care, practice settings, and interdisciplinary collaborative practice models.
- Investigate the impact and effectiveness of alternative dental hygiene practice settings.
- Assess methods of evaluating competency in dental hygiene.
- Develop valid and reliable measures to be used in oral health research.
- Assess the impact of emerging technology used by dental hygienists on the health outcomes of clients.
- Design and evaluate alternative models for the delivery of oral health care.
- Assess client compliance with recommended oral health care regimens.
- Examine the extent to which knowledge derived from basic science and clinical research is used in clinical reasoning.
- Assess compliance with established standards of practice by dental hygiene practitioners.
Individuals/Populations
Priorities which focus on special needs of ethnic groups, children, the elderly, the poor and other target groups.
- Develop and test methods of primary prevention in adult populations at risk for primary and secondary enamel and root caries, with special attention to compromised, handicapped and institutional groups.
- Develop and test methods for early diagnosis and screening of oral diseases for individuals at high risk for dental caries, periodontal diseases, and oral cancer.
- Evaluate the efficacy of various oral hygiene regimens with institutionalized, handicapped, or otherwise compromised patients.
- Develop and test preventive measures to reduce the incidence of oral disease in special at-risk populations.
- Examine the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of oral disease in underserved and at-risk populations.
Basic/Applied Sciences
Priorities which establish new knowledge and/or test existing theory in laboratory, field, clinical and educational settings.
- Explore the effects of dental hygiene therapy on pathogenesis, wound healing and tissue repairs.
- Test new products for use in dental hygiene practice.
- Develop valid and reliable measures of quality dental hygiene care.
- Test theoretical concepts in dental hygiene.
- Assess the outcomes of client oral health self-care behaviors.
- Develop assessment tools which provide indicators of dental hygiene care outcomes.
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