Integrating Social and Systems Science Approaches to Promote Oral Health Equity

TThis qualitative dataset derives from a partnership among New York University, University at Buffalo, and Columbia University researchers and practitioners. The project leveraged the infrastructure and staff of the ElderSmile program of Columbia University, which offers prevention, education, screening, and treatment services for seniors in northern Manhattan. Baseline qualitative data, which includes transcripts from both key informant interviews and focus groups, documented unmet oral and general health care needs in older adults.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 key informants who worked with older adults at senior centers that were part of the ElderSmile network. Each hour-long interview was held at a time and place that was convenient for each key informant. Interview questions covered services offered by the senior center, salience of oral health to older adults who visit the senior center, potential dental fears of older adults, communication about oral health among older adults, oral health care accessibility, potential transportation and language barriers to oral health care, experiences with the ElderSmile program, and potential receptivity to screening for hypertension and diabetes along with oral health concerns during community-based outreach events. At the end of each interview, each key informant was asked for their ideas about the type of community-based program they thought would most benefit older adults.

24 focus groups (12 groups of men and 12 groups of women) were conducted with 194 older adults who identified as African American, Dominican, or Puerto Rican and lived in Central Harlem, Washington Heights/Inwood, and East Harlem. In each gender block, four groups were conducted with African Americans, four groups with Puerto Ricans, and four groups with Dominicans. Ten of the groups were conducted in English and 14 were conducted in Spanish (two of the Puerto Rican groups were conducted in English). Within each gender/racial/ethnic group, half of the groups were conducted with participants who had visited a dentist in the past year, and the other half were conducted with those who had not visited a dentist in the past year. The topic guide for the focus groups covered the same general range of topics as that for the key informant interviews. The focus group facilitators (one of whom spoke fluent Spanish and English) encouraged participants to share experiences that they and other older adults had in obtaining adequate oral health care in their communities.

Audio from all group sessions was digitally recorded and transcribed. Recordings of group sessions conducted in Spanish were transcribed in Spanish and later translated into English. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic content analysis.