Evaluation of a Brief Tailored Motivational Intervention to Prevent Early Childhood Caries

The Detroit Dental Health Project (DDHP)aims to promote oral health and reduce disparities within the community of low-income African-American children (0-5 years) and their main caregivers (14+ years), living in the City of Detroit. The driving theme of the Project is to identify determinants and design interventions to answer the following question: why do some low-income African-American children and their main caregivers have better oral health than others who live in the same community? The Project has 3 support cores, 4 research core projects and 1 pilot study. The Project has selected a multistage random sample of African-American families living in the poorest 39 Census Tracts in the City of Detroit. A total of 1,022 families were recruited and interviewed at a community center in Detroit during the year 2 (2002). We have collected data about the social characteristics of parents, families, and neighborhoods that are associated with disparities in oral health; lead levels in saliva and blood of the caregivers; and dietary intake. All these families will be recalled in the year 4 (2004) and year 6 (2006) for longitudinal data collection. We are currently developing a tailored multi-media educational intervention (Project #3), based on data collected in the first phase (2002). The educational intervention will be administered using a randomized controlled design in year 4 (2004). Additionally, the Project is evaluating the impact on access to dental care of a state-funded experiment on utilization where Medicaid children are managed like privately insured patients (Project #4).