UH3DE030070

Map for Child Health: Using Social Networks to Improve Child Health and Oral Health - Early Childhood Caries, along with obesity, are the most prevalent health disparities of childhood in the West. Both are closely associated with maternal feeding behaviors and cognitions.

Educational and behavioral interventions—most directed at individual mothers—have shown disappointing results in recent decades, showing limited impact on child health and nutrition.

Social-contextual features of the environment--community, neighborhood and household—are known to profoundly impact child feeding and other risk/protection behaviors.

Working with low income immigrant families at high risk of child caries and obesity, this application will develop a neighbor-based social network intervention designed to reduce oral caries and obesity by modifying the social context in which child feeding and oral hygiene behaviors are embedded.

Map (“Mothers Action Project”) for Child Health—is a 12-month group intervention designed to decrease the risk of early childhood caries and other nutrition-related disease, among South Asian (SA) toddler and preschool (TP) children aged 1-5.

Research from our team and others finds low income immigrant SA mothers to be highly vulnerable to influences from the social sphere which increase risks to child health.

Many experience social pressure from elders in their social networks to feed TP children a diet heavy in milk, milk additives, sweets, and refined carbohydrates— all of which adversely impact oral and metabolic health.

Accordingly, MAP-CH is a novel strategy to modify mothers’ social environment by creating new, health promoting social networks.

During the UH3 phase of the project, 48 clusters of mothers living in close physical proximity (12 per cluster, 576 total) will be randomized 1:1 into intervention and control arms.

Controls will receive health and parenting education materials.

The intervention group will participate in a 12-month, group-based “Mothers’ Club.” Led by a skilled peer facilitator, each Mothers’ Club will receive an intervention designed to: 1) build close social ties, social support, and a sense of group identity among group members; 2) improve knowledge, attitudes and parenting skills related to feeding.

The goal is to transform each ‘Mothers’ Club” club into a meaningful—and lasting-- social network that will support healthy behaviors at least 12 months beyond the end of the intervention.

Network formation and social processes will be monitored in the pilot phase and throughout the trial using a network diagnostics framework to assess social integration and network cohesion.

MAP-CH is the first child oral health intervention using a social network approach.

University Of Massachusetts Medical School

NIDCR EXTRAMURAL RESEARCH PROVIDES RESEARCH FUNDS TO SUPPORT BASIC, TRANSLATIONAL, AND CLINICAL RESEARCH IN DENTAL, ORAL, AND CRANIOFACIAL HEALTH AND DISEASE THROUGH GRANTS, COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS, AND CONTRACTS THAT SUPPORT SCIENTISTS WORKING IN INSTITUTIONS THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES AND INTERNATIONALLY. EXTRAMURAL PROGRAMS PLAN, DEVELOP, AND MANAGE SCIENTIFIC PRIORITIES THROUGH PORTFOLIO ANALYSES AND CONSULTATION WITH STAKEHOLDERS, ENCOURAGING THE MOST PROMISING DISCOVERIES AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES FOR RAPID TRANSLATION TO CLINICAL APPLICATIONS. THE INTEGRATIVE BIOLOGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES PROGRAMS SUPPORTS BASIC AND TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS ON ORAL MICROBIOLOGY, SALIVARY BIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY, ORAL AND SALIVARY GLAND CANCERS, NEUROSCIENCE OF OROFACIAL PAIN AND TEMPOROMANDIBULAR DISORDERS, MINERALIZED TISSUE PHYSIOLOGY, DENTAL BIOMATERIALS, AND TISSUE ENGINEERING AND REGENERATIVE MEDICINE. THE BRANCH AIMS TO ACCELERATE PROGRESS IN BASIC AND TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH IN THESE AREAS, AND FURTHER STIMULATE THE DISCOVERY PIPELINE BASED ON CLINICAL NEEDS. THE TRANSLATIONAL GENOMICS RESEARCH PROGRAMS SUPPORTS BASIC AND TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH IN GENETICS, GENOMICS, DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY, AND DATA SCIENCE TOWARD THE GOAL OF IMPROVING DENTAL, ORAL, AND CRANIOFACIAL HEALTH. THE FOCUS IS ON DECIPHERING THE GENETIC, MOLECULAR, AND CELLULAR MECHANISMS UNDERLYING DENTAL, ORAL, AND CRANIOFACIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ANOMALIES. THE BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES RESEARCH PROGRAMS SUPPORTS BASIC AND APPLIED RESEARCH TO PROMOTE ORAL HEALTH, TO PREVENT ORAL DISEASES AND RELATED DISABILITIES, AND TO IMPROVE MANAGEMENT OF CRANIOFACIAL CONDITIONS, DISORDERS, AND INJURY. THE PROGRAM PRIORITIZES MECHANISTIC RESEARCH THAT CONTRIBUTES TO A CUMULATIVE SCIENCE OF BEHAVIOR CHANGE, TO MAXIMIZE THE RIGOR, RELEVANCE, AND DISSEMINATION OF EFFICACIOUS BEHAVIOR CHANGE INTERVENTIONS. THE CLINICAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS SUPPORTS PATIENT-ORIENTED, POPULATION, AND COMMUNITY BASED RESEARCH AIMED AT IMPROVING THE DENTAL, ORAL, AND CRANIOFACIAL HEALTH OF THE NATION. THE CENTER FOCUSES ON A VARIETY OF DISEASES AND CONDITIONS THROUGH CLINICAL TRIALS, EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDIES, PRACTICE-BASED RESEARCH, THE HIV/AIDS AND ORAL HEALTH PROGRAM, AND STUDIES OF ORAL HEALTH DISPARITIES AND INEQUITIES IN ALL AREAS OF NIDCR PROGRAMMATIC INTEREST. THE PROGRAM ENCOURAGES INVESTIGATIONS THAT HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO TRANSLATE FINDINGS INTO EVIDENCE-BASED CLINICAL APPLICATIONS. THE RESEARCH TRAINING AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT EXTRAMURAL PROGRAMS SPAN THE CAREER STAGES OF SCIENTISTS, SUPPORTING RESEARCH TRAINING AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT FOR PHD AND DUAL DEGREE DDS/DMD-PHD STUDENTS, POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLARS, AND EARLY CAREER, MIDCAREER, AND ESTABLISHED INVESTIGATORS. THE PROGRAMS MANAGE SUPPORT FOR FELLOWSHIPS, RESEARCH TRAINING GRANTS, CAREER DEVELOPMENT AND CAREER TRANSITION AWARDS, NIH LOAN REPAYMENT AWARDS, AND DIVERSITY SUPPLEMENTS TO SUPPORT RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS THROUGH INVESTIGATORS. NIDCR PARTICIPATES IN THE SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) AND SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAMS. THE SBIR PROGRAM IS INTENDED TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, TO INCREASE SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION.THE STTR PROGRAM IS INTENDED TO STIMULATE AND FOSTER SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. EXTRAMURAL PROGRAMS ARE ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE USE OF TAXPAYER FUNDS TO SUPPORT RESEARCH ON DENTAL, ORAL, AND CRANIOFACIAL DISEASES AND DISORDERS AND IMPROVING THE ORAL HEALTH OF ALL AMERICANS. EXTRAMURAL PROGRAMS SUPPORT RESEARCH AND RESEARCH TRAINING TO ESTABLISH THE FOUNDATION FOR SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES THAT INCLUDE TRANSPARENT AND RIGOROUS PLANNING, PRIORITY SETTING, CONTINUOUS AND CONSISTENT REVIEWS OF PROGRESS, AND FOCUS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DIVERSE, HIGHLY SKILLED, AND NIMBLE WORKFORCE THAT CAN RAPIDLY RESPOND TO SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGHS AND PUBLIC HEALTH CHALLENGES. EXTRAMURAL PROGRAMS ARE ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE USE OF TAXPAYER FUNDS TO SUPPORT RESEARCH ON DENTAL, ORAL, AND CRANIOFACIAL DISEASES AND EMPLOY EVALUATION DOMAINS, FROM NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND STRATEGIC PLANNING TO IMPLEMENTATION AND PROCESS EVALUATION, PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT, AND OUTCOMES AND IMPACT ANALYSIS TO EVALUATE STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

93.121 - Oral Diseases and Disorders Research

National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) [HHS - NIH]

Worcester, Massachusetts 01655 United States

Single Zip Code

NIDCR Behavioral and Social Intervention Clinical Trial Planning and Implementation Cooperative Agreement (UG3/UH3 Clinical Trial Required) (PAR-18-656)

Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 197% from $1,283,353 to $3,811,598.