Determinants of a dental home in early Head Start families.

摘要

The concept of a dental home (DH) is new to dentistry. We sought to identify determinants of a family DH, including the role of Early Head Start (EHS), as measured by the UNC Family Dental Home Index (FDHI). A cross-sectional survey was undertaken of NC-EHS families. The 66 item, self-completed questionnaire for parents solicited knowledge, attitudes and practices about dental health. Our dependent variable was the recently developed 22-item FDHI. The FDHI includes six domains of care: accessible, usual source, family-centered, comprehensive, compassionate and culturally competent. The overall index is the mean of the domains (scored 0-100). Higher scores suggest more characteristics associated with a DH. Major predictor and socio-demographic variables were analyzed. Bivariate and multivariate Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analyses were completed using STATA 9.0. The results showed that the EHS program, dental knowledge, trust in dentists, better dental health status and dental neglect play an important role in establishing a DH for EHS families.