Building Consent Rates for a School-Based Dental Sealant Program

Smiles Across America Webinar Series

Building Consent Rates for a School-Based Dental Sealant Program

Date: 10/13/2015

Connect with OHA! /Oral Health America

@Smile4Health

/Oral Health America

@Smile4Health

HOUSEKEEPING INFORMATION • •

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Questions are welcome! We’ll allow 10-15 minutes after the presentation for questions.

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Submit questions at any time; we will address them at the end of the presentation.

Webinar is being recorded; for rebroadcast on OHA’s website – OralHealthAmerica.org Your feedback is important to us. Please take our brief webinar evaluation after this session; link will be sent via email.

OUR MISSION Oral Health America’s mission is to change lives by connecting communities with resources to drive access to care, increase health literacy, and advocate for policies that improve overall health through better oral health for all Americans, especially those most vulnerable.

OHA PRIORITIES OHA’s Programs and Campaigns are designed to improve access to care, oral health literacy and policies that prioritize the impact of oral health on the overall health of all Americans – particularly those most vulnerable.

ACCESS

HEALTH LITERACY

ADVOCACY

Campaigns for Oral Health Equity Educate the public, including policy makers, about the importance of oral health for overall health Emphasize the need to prioritize oral disease alongside other serious health conditions Advocate for policies that positively impact programs and stakeholders Current campaigns include:

toothwisdom.org

Advocacy

Health Education & Communications

Professional Symposia

Demonstration Projects

Grant Funding

Product Donation

Technical Assistance

Better together!

Greater Tampa Bay .

Oral Health Coalition

Vision Play a leading role in Community Dental Health in and around the Greater Tampa Bay Area

Mission 1

We’re in the business of providing evidence based assistance to healthcare providers and community leaders to improve oral health.

2

We work to bridge partnerships between both public and private entities to improve access to oral healthcare.

3

We focus on direct services to improve oral health outcomes.

4

We provide support and resources to agencies and organizations working on oral health initiatives for children and families.

Values Having the courage to shape a better future, leveraging collective genius, being real, and being accountable and committed.

Improving Parental Consent Rates in your School based Dental Sealant Program 1

Awareness Lessons learned from failure.

No consents, no care.

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Assess theories or models Collect ’best practices’ Find evidence to support success.

3

Plan and Implement Develop oral health promotion plans and health literacy strategies.

Execute plans!

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Evalulate and Repeat!

How do you account for your success?

• Do you collect consent rate data?

• Do you report to school and dental providers immediately after each school event?

• Do you make yearly comparisons of individual schools success?

• What processes do you have in place to improve outcomes?

• Who evaluates your success?

How do you measure your communcation success?

What’s your message ?

Messages

Value

Action

Knowledge

Messages

Do you know and understand your target population.

What message are you trying to convey?

Do you use a tool that measures your clarity of your oral health information?

Tools used to build clear health messages

CDC – Clear communication widget www.cdc.gov/ccindex/widget.html What tools are in your tool box?

Collaborative success through teamwork Oral Health Literacy

Parental consent

Access

Health Literacy

The degree to which an individual has the capacity to obtain, communicate, process and understand basic health information and services to make appropriate health decisions

- Helps people find information and services

- Communicate about health and healthcare - Understand how to provide useful information and services - Decide which information and services work best for different situations and people so they can act upon it.

Utilize evidence based resources: “Pain and Suffering Shouldn’t be an Option”

National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center, Georgetown University • http://mchoralhealth.org ‘School-Based and School Linked Oral Health Services for Children and Adolescents’

Hillsborough County Dental Sealant Program Efforts began in 2006 by Suncoast CHC. Then again by Hillsborough County Health Department in 2008-10.

- Initially both denied access to district schools GTBOHC members continued to advocate for access to serve at risk, underserved, vulnerable children in our schools.

Collaborative efforts from our community partners: - Suncoast Community Health Center - Tampa Family Health Center - Hillsborough County BOCC Head Start - Hillsborough County School Board - RSA Consulting ďƒźNow in 104 Title 1 schools throughout HC

Consent smarts: Format and function

Keep it simple.

• Make consent forms simple, one page using plain language and good white space.

Check out CDC Clear Communication Index/widget www.cdc.gov/ccindex/

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Offer consents in all languages in your demographics. Know your audience.

Stand out from the crowd.

• Print consents in or pastel colored paper. Avoid white paper that gets lost in the shuffle of paperwork or neon colored paper that can be difficult to read and do not scan well into Electronic Health Records.

Did I miss something?

Advertise often and early.

Distribute consents at the beginning of the year and again two weeks prior to the scheduled event and/or during the classroom education visit.

Speak clearly.

Clearly communicate one week deadline from distribution of consents to collecting consents.

X Marks the spot.

Highlight (in bold color) where the parent/caregiver must sign the consent.

Oral Health Promotion Meetings with school staff: Be believable.

• Lead your discussions with Principal/Assistant Principal with enthusiasm and passion. Let them see your sincerity to help their children lead a healthier more productive life by reducing tooth decay with sealants. Passion is contagious! Facts are fine but feeling is believing.

Ask for help.

• Ask Principals/Assistant Principals, Teachers and Social Workers to help boost parental/caregiver consents. Be clear and specific.

Go on a field trip and bring new friends.

• Meet with school social workers and/or nurses to discuss any issues in finding children oral health services. Arrange a tour to visit your local dental providers brick and mortar health facilities.

Oral Health Promotion Meetings with school staff continued: Ask for recognition.

• Ask school staff if they have any reward programs/incentives for good behavior.

Use school 'bucks’ toward recognizing children for returning consent forms. Show your support, donate to school store • Ask for extra classroom privileges for returned consents • Purchase colorful, printed pencils for teachers to distribute for each consent returned.

Be full of wonder.

• Ask teachers about their curriculum. Find any common themes that coincide with their students studies. i.e. Wild about . . . math. Wild about . . . reading.

'Wild about . . . teeth!’

Communication beyond the consent Put a WILD in your smile!

Be inquisitive.

• Learn how teachers communicate with parents.

• Does the school have a school wide newsletter, email and/or website they can use to announce the program?

• Do your teachers send monthly reports that could include a message about the dental sealant program?

• Does the school have a robo messaging system to announce programs? Email, phone or texting?

Stick to it.

• Create stickers for teachers to distribute the day before event. Stickers are for kids to wear home to remind Mom and Dad that Dental Day is tomorrow.

Know your target audience Be child like.

• Keep your audience in mind. Observe and learn what motivates children.

• Create fun and engaging oral health classroom education materials.

Be a friend to have a friend.

• Familiarize kids with the dental provider • Demo personal protective gear, mask, gloves on puppet and yourself

From: Chante Miller chantemiller@gmail.com Subject: Mojo Date: October 12, 2015 at 1:19 PM To: Kim Herremans gtbohc@gmail.com

Best Regards, Chante Miller's iPhone

Using stories to teach health

Stories capture attention

Trigger powerful mental images.

Stimulate reflection.

Alter Perceptions of new situations.

(Rickettes, M., Professional Safety Training, May 2015)

A good story is long remembered Read aloud • Use a story to engage your audience.

• A story that will lead the child through the process of getting a sealant. i.e. MoJo's Sealant Day. Make homework fun.

• Give a child their own activity book that tells the story of getting sealants.

• Use animation to get more interest in staying engaged with the text.

Homework teaches more then just the child.

• Children are instructed to read 'Mojo's Sealant Day' activity book aloud to their parents. This has helped parents to get an overview of the process and importance of sealants and improve their oral health literacy.

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Using stories to communicate oral health

Develop and print activity books

Distribute activity books to children.

Assign ‘Special homework’ to read aloud to parents.

Increase access to care for children

Literacy improves willingness to consent for care.

Gain both parent and childs understanding of dental sealants.

Oral Health Literacy Quick Facts:

• Recent evidence supports a link between caregivers’ health literacy and their children’s health and use of health services.

• Caregivers play a pivotal role in children’s oral health and care.

• Very little is published or written on oral health literacy and parental consent.

Mojo Monkey likes to eat.

He wants dental sealants to protect his teeth.

He brushes and flosses twice a day, To keep the cavity germs away.

Mojo’s excited about his trip to the dental bus, So he promises not to fuss.

Mojo sits in the dental chair, He knows the hygienist will take good care.

His teeth are brushed to get them ready, Now he sits good and steady.

Invite

Share

Learn

Work to bring your community together to gain support for our kids

’When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands and stick together’ Robert Fulgrum, author ‘All I ever knew, I learned in Kindergarten’

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Question and Answer Session • Questions are welcome! This session may last for 10-15 minutes.

• Write your questions in your control panel on the upper right hand of your screen.

• Submit questions at any time.

Contact Information •Kim Herremans, RDH, MS - GTBOHC@gmail.com

•Tyler Brown - tyler.brown@oralhealthamerica.org