JDR Clinical & Translational Research最新文献

{"title":"Examining the Effect of Income-Based Inequalities and Dental Service Provision on Dental Service Utilization among Older Australians: A Multiple Mediation Analysis.","authors":"A Ghanbarzadegan, W Sohn, J Wallace, D S Brennan, L M Jamieson","doi":"10.1177/23800844231199658","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23800844231199658","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Public service provision is one of the keys to reducing inequalities in the utilization of dental services. Given the increase in the aging population, there should be a focus on older adults' oral health. However, this is often overlooked.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>This study investigates the effectiveness of public services in reducing income-related inequalities in dental service utilization among older South Australians.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A multiple counterfactual mediation analysis using the ratio of mediator probability weighting approach was used to explore the proposed mediation mechanism using a South Australian population of older adults (≥65 y). The exposure variable in the analysis was income, and the mediators were concession cards and the last dental sector (public or private). The outcome variable was the time of last dental visit.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Half of the older adults with high income (≥$40,000) owned a concession card, and 10% of those who attended public dental services belonged to this group. Interestingly, only 16.3% of the study participants had visited the public dental sector at their last dental appointment. Results showed a negligible indirect effect (odds ratio [OR], 0.99; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.85-1.05) and a significant direct effect (OR, 3.09; 95% CI, 2.24-4.87). By changing the potential outcome distributions to the counterfactual exposure distributions and taking the mediators' distribution as a counterfactual exposure distribution, the odds of dental visits occurring before the past 12 mo approximately tripled for low-income compared to high-income individuals.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Income inequalities were associated with relatively delayed dental visits in older South Australians, and provision of public services could not improve this pattern. This might happen due to inequitable access to concession cards and public services. A review of policies is required, including addressing income inequalities and implementing short-term approaches to improve service utilization patterns in older South Australians.</p><p><strong>Knowledge transfer statement: </strong>The findings of this study can enable policymakers for informed decision-making about the provision of public dental services for older Australians. This study emphasizes the importance of reviewing the current public dental services and subsidies and implementing short-term approaches to reduce income inequalities for older Australians.</p>","PeriodicalId":14783,"journal":{"name":"JDR Clinical & Translational Research","volume":" ","pages":"248-255"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11186176/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49677552","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Cluster Analysis of Oral and Cognitive Health Indicators in the CLSA: An Exploratory Study on Cholinergic Activity as the Link.","authors":"K Rohani, B Nicolau, S Madathil, L Booij, D Jafarpour, P B Haricharan, J Feine, R Alchini, F Tamimi, R de Souza","doi":"10.1177/23800844231190834","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23800844231190834","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Poor oral health has been suggested as a risk factor for cognitive decline. Yet, biologically plausible mechanisms explaining this relationship remain unknown.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>We aimed (1) to identify oral and cognitive health clustering patterns among middle-aged to elderly Canadians and (2) to investigate the extent to which these patterns could be explained by bone mineral density (BMD), a proxy measure of the cholinergic neurons' activity.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This cross-sectional study used baseline data from the Comprehensive cohort of the Canadian Longitudinal Study of Aging (CLSA). Oral health was assessed by a self-report questionnaire, and 7 task-based instruments measured cognitive health. We identified oral and cognitive health clusters, our outcome variables, using latent class analysis. Two sets of multivariate logistic regression and 95% confidence intervals were used to investigate whether BMD explains the odds of membership in a certain oral and cognitive health group. The final models were adjusted for socioeconomic, health, and lifestyle factors.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Our study sample (N = 25,444: 13,035 males, 12,409 females) was grouped into 5 and 4 clusters based on the oral health status and performance on the cognitive tasks, respectively. After adjusting for all potential covariates, increase in BMD was not associated with higher odds of membership in classes with better oral health (odds ratio [OR] = 1.58 [95% confidence interval {CI}: 0.85-2.92]) and cognitive health (OR = 1.61 [95% CI: 1-2.6]) compared with the groups with the least favorable oral and cognitive health status, respectively.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Middle-aged and elderly Canadians show different oral and cognitive health profiles, based on their denture-wearing status and performance on cognitive tests. No evidence could be found to support BMD in place of cholinergic neurons' activity as the common explanatory factor behind the association between oral health and cognitive health.</p><p><strong>Knowledge transfer statement: </strong>This study is probably the first of its kind to shed light on the cholinergic system as a potential pathway influencing oral and cognitive health. Our findings may support the notion that any potential association between poor oral health and cognitive health might be explained by common contributors, helping clinicians to find the common risk factors for both conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":14783,"journal":{"name":"JDR Clinical & Translational Research","volume":" ","pages":"294-305"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11184914/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10041962","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Early Childhood Caries Intervention in Aboriginal Australian Children: A Cross-in Randomized Trial.","authors":"X Ju, M N Mittinty, L Smithers, L Jamieson","doi":"10.1177/23800844231191714","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23800844231191714","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Early childhood caries (ECC) is the strongest predictor of dental caries in adulthood. Indigenous children have higher levels of ECC compared with non-Indigenous children. The study aimed to estimate the efficacy of an ECC intervention among Aboriginal Australian children.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Baby Teeth Talk was an outcome assessor-blinded, closed-cohort cross-in randomized controlled trial conducted in South Australia, Australia. We randomly allocated 448 women pregnant with an Aboriginal child to either an immediate (II) or delayed (DI) intervention group between January 2011 and May 2012. The immediate intervention comprised (1) provision of dental care to mothers during pregnancy; (2) application of fluoride varnish to teeth of children at ages 6, 12; and 18 mo; (3) motivational interviewing delivered in conjunction; and (4) anticipatory guidance. Mothers/children in the DI group received the same intervention commencing when the child was 24 mo of age. The outcomes were assessed by the number of decayed, missing, and filled teeth (dmft) in children aged 24, 36, and 60 mo. Regression-based approaches with generalized linear mixed effect (log-Poisson) model characterized the mean dmft to estimate risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 223 participants were randomly allocated to the II group and 225 to the DI group. Three hundred sixty-five children (178 II, 187 DI) received at least 1 dental clinical examination at 24, 36, and 60 mo of follow-up. The mean dmft was lower in the II group (0.48, 1.32, and 2.06) than in the DI group (0.82, 1.90, and 3.29) at each time point, respectively. The direct ECC intervention effect was to prevent/decrease dental decay experience (dmft) occurrence by 84% (RR = 1.84, 95% CI: 1.20-2.48) after adjusting for all covariates.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our analysis indicated that the time-varied ECC intervention had immediate and longer-term effects on the prevention of ECC among Indigenous Australian children.</p><p><strong>Knowledge transfer statement: </strong>The study aimed to estimate the efficacy of an early childhood caries (ECC) intervention among Aboriginal Australian children. The findings indicated that the culturally appropriate ECC intervention is effective for the preventive of ECC and can be used by clinicians, educators, and policy makers when planning an ECC intervention, so as to prevent and reduce ECC and meet identified oral health needs across the Australian population, which is important for preventive dental care.</p>","PeriodicalId":14783,"journal":{"name":"JDR Clinical & Translational Research","volume":" ","pages":"239-247"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11184907/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10050426","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Corrigendum to \"A Cluster Analysis of Oral and Cognitive Health Indicators in the CLSA: An Exploratory Study on Cholinergic Activity as the Link\".","authors":"","doi":"10.1177/23800844241251850","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23800844241251850","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":14783,"journal":{"name":"JDR Clinical & Translational Research","volume":" ","pages":"NP1-NP2"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11299368/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140957330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Periodontal Effects of the Reversible Dipeptidyl Peptidase 1 Inhibitor Brensocatib in Bronchiectasis.","authors":"J C Gunsolley, J D Chalmers, O Sibila, C Fernandez, F A Scannapieco","doi":"10.1177/23800844231196884","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23800844231196884","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aims: </strong>Brensocatib is a reversible inhibitor of dipeptidyl peptidase 1 (cathepsin C), in development to treat chronic non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis. The phase 2, randomized, placebo-controlled WILLOW trial (NCT03218917) was conducted to examine whether brensocatib reduced the incidence of pulmonary exacerbations. Brensocatib prolonged the time to the first exacerbation and led to fewer exacerbations than placebo. Because brensocatib potentially affects oral tissues due to its action on neutrophil-mediated inflammation, we analyzed periodontal outcomes in the trial participants.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>Patients with bronchiectasis were randomized 1:1:1 to receive once-daily oral brensocatib 10 or 25 mg or placebo. Periodontal status was monitored throughout the 24-week trial in a prespecified safety analysis. Periodontal pocket depth (PPD) at screening, week 8, and week 24 was evaluated. Gingival inflammation was evaluated by a combination of assessing bleeding upon probing and monitoring the Löe-Silness Gingival Index on 3 facial surfaces and the mid-lingual surface.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>At week 24, mean ± SE PPD reductions were similar across treatment groups: -0.07 ± 0.007, -0.06 ± 0.007, and -0.15 ± 0.007 mm with brensocatib 10 mg, brensocatib 25 mg, and placebo, respectively. The distribution of changes in PPD and the number of patients with multiple increased PPD sites were similar across treatment groups at weeks 8 and 24. The frequencies of gingival index values were generally similar across treatment groups at each assessment. An increase in index values 0-1 and a decrease in index values 2-3 over time and at the end of the study were observed in all groups, indicating improved oral health.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>In patients with non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis, brensocatib 10 or 25 mg had an acceptable safety profile after 6 months' treatment, with no changes in periodontal status noted. Improvement in oral health at end of the study may be due to regular dental care during the trial and independent of brensocatib treatment.</p><p><strong>Knowledge transfer statement: </strong>The results of this study suggest that 24 weeks of treatment with brensocatib does not affect periodontal disease progression. This information can be used by clinicians when considering treatment approaches for bronchiectasis and suggests that the use of brensocatib will not be limited by periodontal disease risks. Nevertheless, routine dental/periodontal care should be provided to patients irrespective of brensocatib treatment.</p>","PeriodicalId":14783,"journal":{"name":"JDR Clinical & Translational Research","volume":" ","pages":"277-285"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11184906/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41128227","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"In Reply to Saenthaveesuk et al.","authors":"E Topkan, E Somay, U Selek","doi":"10.1177/23800844231175642","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23800844231175642","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":14783,"journal":{"name":"JDR Clinical & Translational Research","volume":" ","pages":"308"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9618030","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Patient Values and Preferences for Managing Acute Dental Pain Elicited through Online Deliberation.","authors":"T Dawson, S Pahlke, A Carrasco-Labra, D Polk","doi":"10.1177/23800844231174398","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23800844231174398","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Patient values and preferences (PVP) are among multiple sources of information panelists synthesize when developing clinical practice guidelines (CPG). Patient and public involvement (PPI) can be critical for learning PVP; however, the methodology for engaging patients in CPG development is lacking. Deliberative engagement is effective for obtaining public views on complex topics that require people to consider ethics, values, and competing perspectives.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>Elicit comprehensive understanding of PVP concerning oral analgesics for managing acute dental pain consecutive to toothache and simple and surgical dental extractions, with consideration of associated outcomes, both desirable and undesirable.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Multistage engagement involving 2 electronic surveys and a 90-min online small group deliberative engagement. Adults who have experienced acute dental pain deliberated about 3 hypothetical scenarios stratified according to expected pain intensity, completed a postdeliberation survey, and validated a PVP statement developed by researchers based on review of qualitative data from deliberations and quantitative data from surveys.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Participants affirmed the PVP statement reflected their small group deliberations and their individual views. Most indicated that pain relief is critical to deciding which pain relief medicine they would want regardless of expected pain level. Most also identify as critical concerns about substance abuse or misuse, although many believe it unlikely that they will experience these outcomes over the brief prescription timeframe for acute dental pain. Participants identified agency in decision-making, consultation including \"better communication\" of options, and treatment actions tailored to life circumstances as key values.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Participants preferred nonprescription and nonopioid pain relief options. As expected pain levels increased, more participants expressed willingness to accept opioids, but more also mentioned rescue analgesia as a third outcome critical to decision-making. Online deliberative method provided opportunities for obtaining informed perspectives. Guideline developers and policymakers may find online deliberations useful for eliciting PVP related to health outcomes.</p><p><strong>Knowledge transfer statement: </strong>Study results informed the US Food and Drug Administration-funded clinical practice guideline on the management of acute dental pain. Findings may be a resource for clinicians in decision-making conversations with patients regarding expectations for pain relief and positive and negative outcomes of differing pain relief medications. Further research should pursue applicability of online deliberative engagement as a method to elicit patient values and preferences.</p>","PeriodicalId":14783,"journal":{"name":"JDR Clinical & Translational Research","volume":" ","pages":"104-113"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10871022/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9993958","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Perceptions about Aging and Ageism from 14 Cross-sectional Cohorts of Undergraduate Dental Students.","authors":"M Brondani, L Donnelly, N Christidis, R Grazziotin-Soares, D Ardenghi, A B Siqueira","doi":"10.1177/23800844231175647","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23800844231175647","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Although positive and negative views of aging and older adults exist, how undergraduate dental students imagine their lives to be as they grow older remains to be fully explored. This study aimed at determining the self-perceived views of being 65, 75, or 85 y of age, as expressed by undergraduate dental students at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A 14-y cross-sectional study design was utilized involving third-year undergraduate dental students at UBC's Faculty of Dentistry. Brief individual essays (150 words) encompassing students' self-perceived views were gathered as part of a dental geriatric course from 2009 to 2022; however, essays were not mandatory. Saldaña's inductive coding and thematic analysis of textual data were used. Themes and categories of information were identified and matched with their excerpts while aiming for data saturation.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Over the 14-y period, 657 students were enrolled in UBC's undergraduate dental geriatric course, and 561 essays were collected. Inductive coding and thematic analysis identified 5 main themes and 11 categories. While themes included \"oral health, general health, and the mind\" and \"me, myself, and familial relationships,\" the categories focused on \"(un)able bodies\" and \"general health.\" Positive views about the aging process were shared, while less optimistic ideas-and even ageism-were apparent when students saw themselves as not employable or living in isolation. Positive and negative views were not bound by the students' academic year but might have been influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Although the number of older adults already surpasses the number of children in many countries, ageism appears to have permeated through students' views of 3 older ages. More positive yet realistic views of growing older were also shared. Follow-up studies are needed to explore the impact of dental education on decreasing ageism.</p><p><strong>Knowledge transfer statement: </strong>As the proportion of older adults in the global population steadily grows, it is important to educate heath care providers about normal and pathologic aging to avoid ageism-stereotypes, prejudices, and discrimination against older adults. This cross-sectional study involved 14 cohorts of undergraduate dental students exploring their self-perceived views of growing older. Although positive and negative views of aging were shared, dental education must focus on decreasing ageism.</p>","PeriodicalId":14783,"journal":{"name":"JDR Clinical & Translational Research","volume":" ","pages":"114-122"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9565397","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Adaptive, Pain Sensitive, and Global Symptoms Clusters: Evidence from a Patient-Based Study.","authors":"F S Al-Hamed, A A Alonso, D Vivaldi, S B Smith, C B Meloto","doi":"10.1177/23800844231164076","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23800844231164076","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>The largest epidemiologic study conducted about painful temporomandibular disorders (pTMDs) to date identified 3 clusters of individuals with similar symptoms-adaptive, pain sensitive, and global symptoms-which hold promise as a means of personalizing pain care. Our goal was to compare the clinical and psychological characteristics that are consistent with a pTMD clinical examination among patients who are seeking care and assigned to the different clusters.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This cross-sectional study used data from the medical records of patients attending Duke Innovative Pain Therapies between August 2017 and April 2021 who received a pTMD diagnosis (i.e., myalgia) and consented to have their data used for research. Data included orofacial and pain-related measures, dental features, and psychological measures. We used the Rapid OPPERA Algorithm to assign clusters to patients and multinomial regression to determine the likelihood (odds ratios [OR] and 95% confidence intervals [CI]) of being assigned to the pain sensitive or global symptoms cluster attributed to each measure.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In total, 131 patients were included in this study and assigned a cluster: adaptive (<i>n</i> = 54, 41.2%), pain sensitive (<i>n</i> = 49, 37.4%), and global symptoms (<i>n</i> = 28, 21.4%). The PS cluster displayed greater numbers of temporomandibular joint sites (OR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.65) and masticatory (1.48; 1.19 to 1.83) and cervical (1.23; 1.09 to 1.39) muscles with pain evoked by palpation. The GS cluster displayed greater scores of pain catastrophizing (1.04; 1.01 to 1.06) and perceived stress (1.23; 1.03 to 1.46) and was more likely to report persistent pain (16.23; 1.92 to 137.1) of higher impact (1.43; 1.14 to 1.80).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our findings support that care-seeking patients with pTMDs who are assigned to the GS cluster display a poorer psychological profile, even though those assigned to the PS cluster display more measures consistent with orofacial pain. Findings also establish the PS cluster as a group that does not display psychological comorbidities despite being hypersensitive.</p><p><strong>Knowledge transfer statement: </strong>This study informs clinicians that patients seeking care for painful temporomandibular disorders, in specific cases of myalgia, can be classified into 1 of 3 groups that display unique profiles of symptoms. Most importantly, it emphasizes the importance of examining patients with painful temporomandibular disorders in a holistic manner that includes assessing symptoms of psychological distress. Patients with greater psychological distress will likely benefit from multidisciplinary treatment strategies that may include psychological treatments.</p>","PeriodicalId":14783,"journal":{"name":"JDR Clinical & Translational Research","volume":" ","pages":"170-179"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10943621/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9357834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Using Policy Briefs to Communicate Dental Research Findings to Policymakers.","authors":"J N Lee, C M Hill, D L Chi","doi":"10.1177/23800844231171831","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23800844231171831","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>New scientific knowledge is not always available to decision makers. Policy briefs are a way that dental researchers can communicate research findings to policymakers. This study compares usefulness of 2 types of policy briefs about sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake and tooth decay.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We developed 2 policy brief types (data focused and narrative focused) and emailed a randomly assigned policy brief to 825 policymakers and staff from 3 levels of government (city, county, and state) in Washington State. Participants completed a 22-item online questionnaire. There were 4 study outcomes: whether the brief was understandable, whether the brief was credible, likelihood of use, and likelihood to be shared (each measured on a 5-point Likert-like scale). The <i>t</i> test was used to evaluate whether outcomes differed by policy brief type and government level (α = 0.05).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>There were 108 respondents (adjusted response rate 14.6%). About 41.6% of participants were in city government, 26.9% were in county government, and 29.6% were in state government. Participants reported that both data- and narrative-focused briefs were understandable (mean rating [MR] and standard deviation [SD]: 4.15 ± 0.68 and 4.09 ± 0.81, respectively; <i>P</i> = 0.65) and credible (MR and SD: 4.13 ± 0.70 and 4.09 ± 0.70, respectively; <i>P</i> = 0.74), but they were not likely to use (MR and SD: 2.71 ± 1.15 and 2.55 ± 1.28, respectively; <i>P</i> = 0.51) or share it (MR and SD: 2.62 ± 1.04 and 2.66 ± 1.30, respectively; <i>P</i> = 0.87). The likelihood of sharing briefs differed significantly by level of government (<i>P</i> = 0.017). Participants at the state level were more likely to share information from the briefs (mean rating and SD: 3.10 ± 0.80) than city- and county-level participants (MR and SD: 2.62 ± 1.27, and 2.24 ± 1.21, respectively).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Both data- and narrative-focused policy briefs may be a useful way to communicate dental research findings to policymakers, but additional steps are needed to ensure that briefs are used and shared.</p><p><strong>Knowledge transfer statement: </strong>Researchers should disseminate their research findings to maximize scientific impact. Our study findings indicate that policy briefs may be a useful way to communicate dental research findings to policymakers, but additional research is needed on the best ways to disseminate findings.</p>","PeriodicalId":14783,"journal":{"name":"JDR Clinical & Translational Research","volume":" ","pages":"150-159"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9686810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}