J Dent Educ. 70(11_suppl): 56-61 2006
© 2006 American Dental Education Association
Oral Presentation Abstracts |
Oral Presentation Abstracts
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O1. A U.S. Study of Barriers and Facilitators of Women Dental Leadership
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Margaret Scarlett, American Association of Women Dentists; Joy A. Jordan, National Dental Association, United States
Purpose: To determine key domains for the advancement of leadership skills among women at various career stages in dentistry. Barriers and facilitators to the development of leadership skills for women have not been systematically evaluated across different sectors of dentistry within the United States.
Barriers and facilitators to women’s leadership will be identified through interviews with dental leaders, including deans, dental organization leaders, and American women dentists nationwide. Using domains identified in key informant interviews, we will compile an online survey and email it to 1,200 members of the American Association of Women Dentists and 350 women dentists of the National Dental Association in May 2005. Scalar variables with Likert scale were used to assess key domains identified, such as how leadership was defined and whether education and workplaces encouraged the development of leadership skills. Women leaders will be identified, and aspects of their lives that assisted in the development of their leadership skills will be assessed. Additionally, our objectives include obtaining information relative to what kinds of support systems are essential for developing leadership skills among women, how women perceive themselves as leaders, and if women feel supported by their counterparts. Results of the key interviews and online survey will be presented at this meeting, building on a strengths-based model. These domains will be presented as a way in which to structure future comprehensive training programs to support women’s leadership programming in dentistry in the United States. Because women represent more than one-third of the graduates of dental schools in the United States, women are a key resource for dental leadership. While significant barriers exist to full representation in dental leadership, comprehensive leadership programs, using a self-assessment and strengths-based approach, are essential to the development of a leadership training program needed to ensure women’s progress in dentistry.
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O2. Themes in Definitions of Leadership from Women Academics in Medicine and Dentistry
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Sharon McDade Kirk Nooks, George Washington University; Page Morahan, Drexel University, United States
Purpose: To analyze themes in the leadership definitions of a select group of women in academic medicine and dentistry.
Data were gathered from women admitted to the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women at Drexel University College of Medicine. The yearlong program, launched in 1995, serves U.S. and Canadian medical and dental schools. ELAM graduates now number 330 and serve in leadership positions at more than sixty institutions. For ELAM applications, candidates provide personal definitions of leadership. The 283 definitions available for analysis were from fellows in all classes who gave consent for their definitions to be used in research. Definitions were examined through Atlas.TI software in two ways: 1) for definitional elements as categorized by Rost (1991) from his analysis of leadership definitions in scholarship, and 2) for themes that did not fit the Rost categories. From the 283 available definitions, 864 coding incidents were recorded. Four of the six Rost categories were found. The largest category was Leadership as Traits (found in 43 percent of definitions), followed by Leadership as Influence (21 percent), Leadership as Transformation (13 percent), and Leadership as Management (8 percent). One category (Do as Leader) did not appear, and another (Organizational Goals) rarely appeared. Emerging from the definitions were four other categories: Leadership as Activities (48 percent), Leadership as Relationship to Followers (47 percent), Leadership as Envisioning and Strategy (45 percent), and Leadership as Communication (19 percent). (Most definitions included references appropriate to more than one category; thus, percentages add up to more than 100 percent.) Women put an equal emphasis on who a leader is and what a leader does. For them, a leader emphasizes collaborative involvement with followers in a process of envisioning the future in which communication matters greatly. The women’s definitions were more complex than those in the literature in that definitions commonly included elements of several categories. This study provides important insight into how women, particularly those in academic medicine and dentistry organizations and cultures, view leadership. This is significant since the vast majority of studies on leadership and, in particular, leadership definition are done exclusively with men. The definitions also say a great deal about the culture of leadership within academic medicine and dentistry as seen by emerging leaders in middle and rising senior positions.
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O3. Designing a Leadership Program for Women Faculty in Medicine and Dentistry (ELAM)
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Rosalyn Richman, Page Morahan, Deborah Diserens, D. Walter Cohen, Drexel University, United States
Purpose: To address the continuing imbalance of women in leadership positions at medical and dental schools, despite the current ratio of women students, by designing and implementing a program to prepare women faculty for these positions.
The organizers conducted a needs assessment of medical school deans and potential participants in 1993–94 and used the feedback to design a national leadership program to prepare mid-level women faculty of medical and dental schools for the highest positions at academic health centers. The program has three goals: 1) increase the number of women leaders in medical and dental schools, 2) support and sustain their success, and 3) change the climate and culture at these institutions to promote women’s advancement. The program’s design incorporates three intensive onsite sessions, an independent project that addresses an institutional need, intersession activity that focuses on community building and virtual communications using an online learning platform, and substantive involvement of participants’ deans, which benefits them as well as their fellows. Key programmatic and curricular elements of ELAM include building leadership skills, knowledge, and competencies (in both traditional and innovative areas); devising a strategic career/professional developmental plan; increasing participants’ visibility within and beyond their institutions; and creating and nurturing community. ELAM faculty include nationally recognized leaders in academic medicine and dentistry, health care, government, and industry. In ten years, ELAM’s 375 graduates represent nearly 90 percent of allopathic medical schools and 50 percent of dental schools in the United States. ELAM alumnae include deans of medicine (four), dentistry (three), osteopathy (one), public health (one), human ecology (one), and arts and sciences (one), along with individuals holding numerous other leadership positions in academic health centers and other organizations. Graduates from early classes formed the Society for Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (SELAM International), which supports the advancement of women through continuing education programs and networking and mentoring opportunities. Since its inception, ELAM has been the only national in-depth leadership program for women medical and dental faculty. The program has been recognized with major awards from academic medicine and dentistry and higher education. ELAM serves as a model for other organizations seeking to develop similar programs. Lessons learned from ten years of continuous refinement of program structure and content will be useful to others developing leadership programs.
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O4. Advancement of Women in Academic Dentistry: Is It Smooth Sailing?
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Prof. Shobha Tandon, Manipal College of Dental Sciences, India
Purpose: To review a study conducted with an aim to highlight various barriers faced by women in leadership positions in academic dentistry in India and suggest issues that require global attention for unbiased advancement of women.
Women have indeed come a long way over the past fifty years. Gone are the days when leadership positions in dentistry and health care professions were occupied solely by males and women in charge were looked down on as anomalies. Today, dental and medical schools and research laboratories around the world are chockablock with women who have quietly begun challenging the conventional male ideas that shaped earlier policies. Women have advanced considerably in academic dentistry, but like every coin, this story has two sides. In spite of the considerable gain in equity of status, women in research and academic pursuits related to health care professions still face innumerable barriers to their careers. This is a questionnaire-based study in which the subjects are women in leadership positions in various dental schools in India. The questions are related to the barriers, such as family commitments, attitude of society, sexual harassment, gender bias, and lack of cooperation from spouse, that hinder the development of the careers of women with tremendous leadership potential. Almost 54 percent of the subjects in this study feel that women face more barriers to their careers than do males and that the health care professions need more women leaders to improve women’s health status globally. Twenty-five percent of women in dentistry in India feel their family commitments keep them from rising in their careers, and 60.7 percent report that a marriage is happier if the husband’s career path is better than the wife’s. The study reports that the same salary is paid to 82.1 percent of women and their male colleagues. A change has taken place in the outlook of Indian women as they have broken the norms and taken up careers in academic dentistry. The story has a positive side, but numerous challenges, especially in the form of family commitments, exist for Indian women in dentistry.
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O5. Female Graduate Students’ Opinions About the Status of Women in the Dental Profession
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A.K. Tsami, I.K. Karoussis, M.G. Komboli, I.A. Vrotsos, University of Athens, Greece
Purpose: To evaluate the opinions of female graduate dental students about the status of women in the dental profession in Greece.
Seventy-one female students in the last year of their studies at the University of Athens Dental School voluntarily completed a questionnaire regarding their beliefs about the situation of women practicing dentistry (e.g., the experience necessary for a female dentist to start a career, the confidence of patients in a female dentist, the influence of the profession on the respondent’s personal life, and their self-reliance in treating complex cases). Each question or statement had five possible, preselected answers coded from 0 to 4 (0=no opinion, 1=to-tally disagree to 4=totally agree). The majority (89 percent) thought that additional clinical experience would be necessary for optimally establishing themselves as professionals. Therefore, specialization would be of great importance (97 percent). Ninety percent felt that patients’ confidence in women dentists is limited and will be gained only after years of practice. Seventy-five percent believed that a career restricts the woman’s role as a mother, and 67 percent thought that the dental profession limits social engagements. The vast majority (71 percent) believed that patients appreciate a female dentist’s efforts for primary prevention, and 52 percent felt that they could adequately treat complex cases without cooperation with a specialist. Female graduate students at the University of Athens regard their professional future with skepticism. The majority are concerned about difficulties they will face starting their careers. Even though they believe they can treat complex cases, they worry about patients’ confidence, the time necessary to be established in the profession, and the influence of their career on their family and social life.
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O6. Young Female Dentists’ Opinions About the Status of Women in the Dental Profession
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A.K. Tsami, I.K. Karoussis, M.G. Komboli, I.A. Vrotsos, University of Athens, Greece
Purpose: To evaluate the opinion of young female dentists about the status of women in the dental profession in Greece.
Fifty-three young female dentists working as teaching assistants at the University of Athens Dental School voluntarily completed a questionnaire regarding their beliefs about the situations women practicing dentistry deal with (e.g., the experience necessary for a female dentist to start a career, the confidence of patients in a female dentist, the influence of the profession on personal life, and their self-reliance in treating complex cases). Each question or statement had five possible, preselected answers coded from 0 to 4 (0=no opinion, 1=totally disagree to 4=totally agree). Most (92 percent) respondents had participated in or completed a postgraduate program leading to specialization in various specialties of dentistry. About three-fourths (77 percent) disagreed that patients’ confidence in women dentists is limited and felt that this confidence concerns both simple and complex treatment strategies. Half believed that a career restricts a woman’s role as a mother and limits social engagements. The vast majority (74 percent) believed that patients appreciate female dentists’ efforts for primary prevention, and 92 percent of respondents would refer complex cases to a specialist. Young female dentists working as teaching assistants at the University of Athens believe that patients rely on women dentists for any treatment necessary. They strongly believe in the need for a specialist’s interception for complex cases. Half of them, however, consider a career a restricting factor for both family and social life.
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O7. Oral Effects of Smoking: Are Genetics and Ethnicity Contributing Factors?
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Aida A. Chohayeb, Sharon M. Cadiz, Women’s Network Collective; Rafi K. Saatciyan, Private Practice; C. Joseph Baxter Jr., Statistician, United States
Purpose: To explore the effects of smoking on the oral health status.
Eighteen adult Turkish women attending a global health conference in New York City agreed to participate in this study. Seventeen Native American women who were at the conference agreed to participate and served as controls. The PI (C) conducted an oral examination that included identifying missing, decayed, and restored teeth. Periodontal status (gingival swelling, bleeding, calculus deposits, and tooth mobility) was also recorded. Data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel, General Linear Model, odds ratio, relative risks, and appropriate chi square tests. Eleven of the eighteen Turkish women were current smokers, while seven had stopped smoking after a range of eight to twenty years and an average of ten to twenty cigarettes a day. None of the smokers had gingival bleeding or pockets. Only one had mandibular calculus deposits. Seven of the seventeen Native American smokers had minimal periodontal smoking effects; two had gingival plaque, bleeding, and deep pockets. Gingival swelling and calculus deposits were seen in five women; only one of the five had mobility in her lower anterior teeth. Turkish women smoked more frequently and for several years, but they did not have the reported deleterious effect of coronal or root caries or adverse periodontal effects; the same observations were made in the Native American women. The results are unambiguous, but the genetic-ethnic origin of the participants could have been the reason for these findings. Further research is needed on these population groups and also on adult men to establish more data.
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O8. Oral and Systemic Health: Does Sex Matter?
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Maria Perno Goldie, Seminars for Women’s Health, United States
Purpose: To examine whether sex affects oral and systemic health.
Differences between the sexes exist, and being male or female is relevant in the prevalence and severity of many diseases, disorders, and conditions. It is significant at all stages of life, from birth to old age. It is important at all levels from the single cell to organ systems to the entire body. Sex-based biology is the field of scientific inquiry committed to identifying the biological and physiological differences between men and women. Sex differences that are found at the system, organ, tissue, cellular, and subcellular level and sex differences in response to pharmaceuticals are considered sex-based biology. This field has the potential to transform our understanding of health and disease for both men and women. Poor oral health has been linked to heart disease, diabetes, oral cancer, and preterm delivery. Oral cancer includes cancer of the mouth, tongue, lips, throat, and larynx. Three out of four of these cancers are caused by tobacco use. Oral cancers are more common in men, but have become increasingly common in women, due to increased tobacco use among women. Pregnant women with periodontal disease have a three to five times greater risk of delivering a baby before thirty-seven weeks than do those who have good oral health. Research suggests that bacteria that cause oral inflammation can enter the bloodstream, cross the placenta, and affect the fetus, potentially leading to premature labor and low-birthweight babies. Preterm birth causes a variety of problems, including lung problems, mental retardation, and possibly death. Heart disease, the number one killer of men and women, has been linked to certain pathogenic bacteria present in periodontal disease. Diabetes and obesity are also health concerns, and research has shown that having periodontal disease can exacerbate diabetes and vice versa. Other studies have shown that diabetics with poor oral health have a harder time controlling their blood sugar levels. Signs of other health concerns for women, including osteoporosis, eating disorders, and HIV, may first appear in the mouth. Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is the fourth leading cause of death for women ages thirty-five to forty-four and the sixth leading cause of death for women ages twenty-five to thirty-four in the United States. At the current stage of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, new paradigms have emerged that will influence the direction of future HIV/AIDS research. Some of these paradigms will increasingly apply to women as they become a progressively larger proportion of persons with HIV/AIDS in industrialized countries.
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O9. M. Evangeline Jordon: Schoolteacher to Pediatric Dentist
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H.T. Loevy, University of Illinois at Chicago, United States
Purpose: To learn how Evangeline Jordon paved the way for much of our progress in pediatric dentistry.
At a time when little attention was paid to the care of children’s teeth, Evangeline Jordon pioneered new techniques and laid the groundwork for what became pedodontia. Jordon went to college and become an elementary schoolteacher in 1885. By 1897, dissatisfied with her life as a teacher and as a result of her work as a dental assistant during summer vacations, she enrolled at the University of California and graduated in dentistry in 1898. Immediately after graduation, Jordon became involved in organized dentistry and in 1901 was elected second vice president of the Southern California Dental Association. She developed a lecture course, "Care of Children’s Teeth," and started a clinic at the Orphan’s Home in 1901. Later she developed a clinic for children at the University of California School of Dentistry. By 1909, she had limited her practice to children and started publishing papers on dental treatment of children. She published the first book in English on pediatric dentistry in 1924. She was one of the founders of the Federation of American Women Dentists and was active in the founding of the American Society of Dentistry for Children. She recognized the cause of nursing bottle caries and the need for psychological training for dentists treating children. Jordon paved the way for much of our progress in pediatric dentistry. She is an example of what can be accomplished if there is a vision, a desire to serve, and a recognition of the needs of children.
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O10. Transforming Health Care Through the Gender Lens
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Susan E. Sutherland, Sunnybrook and Women’s College Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Canada
Purpose: To describe how one of Canada’s largest academic health sciences centers has built on the principles of women’s health to transform health care, using gender as one of the key organizing principles in all clinical, research, educational, and corporate activities.
The government of Ontario enacted legislation in 1998 to amalgamate three separate and distinct hospitals, each with impressive records in health care. One of the legacy hospitals had its beginnings in the nineteenth century, when it was founded by a small group of courageous women physicians who were excluded from educational and practice opportunities by the medical establishment, to provide care for women whose health problems were often trivialized. Women’s College Hospital, with its unparalleled expertise in women’s health, came into this extraordinary government-mandated merger with a passion for equality and justice for women, both as recipients and providers of health care. Despite a difficult labor and delivery and some expected growing pains, Sunnybrook and Women’s College Health Sciences Centre has become an international leader in innovative health care with a focus on women’s health. The principles of women’s health are considered and implemented in all programs in the new organization and are embodied in the values that guide decisions at all levels of patient care, research, education, and administration. Many innovative programs have been established. The Department of Dentistry, through collaboration with medical colleagues and leaders in women’s health, is developing a Women’s Oral Health Initiative to promote clinical, educational, and research strategies that focus on women’s oral health. A committed organization, guided by sound principles, strong values, determined leadership, and unwavering passion, can overcome outdated attitudes and prejudices and thereby transform health care.
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O11. Reframing Organizations: The Leadership Frames of North American Women Administrators
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Pamela Zarkowski, Mert Aksu, University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry, United States
Purpose: To review the reframing approach to leadership and provide a summary of the data collected.
Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership, by Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal, suggests that the art of reframing and leadership uses knowledge and intuition to find sensible and effective ways to channel organizations in productive directions. Situational versatility and flexibility are essential attributes for a leader in an increasingly competitive and changing academic environment. An effective leader must continually adapt mindsets and strategies. The cognitive aspect of versatility is situational "smarts," the ability to reframe organizations using multiple perspectives. The creative leader uses four "frames": structural, human resource, political, and symbolic. The structural frame emphasizes rationality, goals, and efficiency. The human resource frame centers attention on human needs. The political frame highlights coping with conflict and competition for scarce resources. The symbolic frame focuses on how to shape culture that gives purpose and meaning to work. A two-part survey will be mailed to all women administrators in North American dental institutions, including chairpersons, program directors, assistant and associate deans, and deans. The participants will initially be required to complete Bolman and Deal’s Leadership Orientation Survey that measures the four organizational frames using thirty-two items with a 5-point response scale. The instrument is designed to measure eight dimensions of leadership, two for each frame. As part of the second aspect of the survey, a brief explanation of the four frames is included. A second portion of the survey seeks the participant’s perception of leadership style as it applies to the four frames. Participants will be asked if, how, and how often they use each frame. Three administrative groups—department heads, assistant and associate deans, and deans—will be compared for similarities and differences on both instruments. The oral presentation will review the reframing approach to leadership and provide a summary of the data collected. Based on responses, successful use of the four frames as reported by respondents will be highlighted. The findings will also be discussed for their potential impact on dental education.
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O12. Obesity: Attitudes of Dental and Dental Hygiene Students
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Kelly R. Cottrell, Marvin Jabero, Dale Alto, University of Michigan, United States
Purpose: To discuss the importance of addressing subject matter related to obesity.
The dramatic increase in obesity prevalence in the United States has been accompanied by improved recognition of the medical comorbidities and societal penalties; however, limited education about obesity as a chronic, multifactorial disease is provided in the undergraduate dental and dental hygiene curricula. Many papers have documented the presence of antiobesity stereotypes in family, work, service, and health care environments. Students must be made aware of the preferred terminology, health consequences, and potential complexities of treating an obese patient, especially in an office that is poorly equipped to accommodate people of size. To extinguish stereotypical behaviors, education must be designed such that the etiology, physiology, and pathophysiology of this disease are presented. If this subject matter is not addressed, students remain at high risk to perpetuate stereotypes regarding obese individuals.
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O13. Moving Tobacco Cessation Education to Competency: A Global Cessation Strategy
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Joan M. Davis, Southern Illinois University, United States
Purpose: Dental health care providers often see firsthand the devastation tobacco use causes in their patients. Unfortunately, many still do not include effective tobacco control interventions in regular care. Lack of time and training are the most often cited barriers. Provider training, though important, can be labor-intensive and may yield limited results. Researchers have reported that many health care educators still do not incorporate comprehensive tobacco control into their curriculum or bring the skill to a competency level. By addressing the many reported barriers to integration of tobacco cessation in dental and dental hygiene curricula, participants will be able to review an existing curriculum that addresses many educators’ concerns.
Leading the Way, an innovative tobacco control curriculum for dental hygiene faculty, was developed to provide a ready-made, comprehensive tool to save faculty the time and energy needed to research and develop a didactic and clinical tobacco control program for their students. The development of this curriculum was funded, in part, by the Illinois Department of Public Health and American Dental Hygienists’ Association Institute for Oral Health. This evidence-based curriculum is divided into six educational modules: 1) Tobacco Use: Past, Present, and Future; 2) Addiction, Dependence, and Disease; 3) Cessation Strategies; 4) Pharmacotherapy; 5) Clinical Application; and 6) Advocacy and Prevention. The curriculum includes three educational components: a faculty curriculum guide, presentation slides, and a toolbox. Leading the Way is based on the U.S. Public Health Service Clinical Practice Guideline Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence (2000), as well as the stages of change and the health behavior change model, and complies with the American Dental Education Association policies on tobacco and competencies for health promotion and disease prevention. Though this curriculum was developed for dental hygiene faculty, the intent is to expand the basic template for use by dental and, ultimately, any health care educational faculty. Participants who are involved in tobacco control education on any level would benefit from this program. The curriculum is available at no charge at www.siu.edu/~hcp/tobacco.
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O14. Factors Related to Malocclusion in Women Coming from Western Côte d’Ivoire (West Africa)
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Tchéré Yavo Marie-Laure, National Program for Promoting Oral Health, West Africa
Purpose: Previous studies in Côte d’Ivoire have shown a prevalence of 42.2 percent of malocclusion in the population. The highest prevalence is found in women coming from the western part of the country. About 50 percent of these women have malocclusion. The purpose is to determine the factors associated with malocclusion in these women.
A questionnaire will be submitted to 100 women coming from western Côte d’Ivoire to receive dental services in Abidjan (the administrative capital) and present a malocclusion. Because of the sociopolitical situation, investigating in the western part of the country is impossible. Questionnaires will be collected two months after they have been sent to dental care services. The statistical analysis of the information will be based on SPSS 10.0 for Windows. Though the study is not complete yet, the questionnaire has been built and is going to be tested. The conclusion will be based on the hypothesis that malocclusion in women coming from western Côte d’Ivoire is related to genetic, alimentation, aesthetic, and cultural factors; oral hygiene behaviors; and dental status (teeth lost or CAO). Recommendations will be made to prevent malocclusion in these women.
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O15. Periodontal Health of Postmenopausal Women Using Bisphosphonate
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Leena Palomo, Nabil Bissada, James Liu, Case School of Dental Medicine, United States
Purpose: To find if there is a correlation between periodontal status of postmenopausal women with mild to moderate osteoporosis who use bisphosphonate therapy versus those who do not.
Thirty-three women were included in the study. All subjects were over forty years old, past menopause, and diagnosed with mild to moderate osteoporosis through a bone scan T-score of -2.5 or greater. Confounders such as smokers and corticosteroid users were excluded from the study. The subjects were divided into two groups. The first group consisted of sixteen individuals with a mean age of 53.31 who had been using systemic bisphosphonate either once daily or once weekly dosages for a minimum of three months at the time of examination. The second group consisted of seventeen individuals with a mean age of 59.12 who had never used any type of bisphosphonate therapy. Age was eliminated as a confounder because the ages are not significantly different between the two groups (p<0.05). All subjects received a clinical periodontal exam. Probing depth (PD), gingival index (GI), mobility (M), recession (R), and attachment loss (AL) were recorded. Significant differences between the two groups were identified using ANOVA. Significant differences (p<0.01) were found between test and control groups in PD (2.7 vs. 3.1 mm), GI (0.95 vs. 0.42), and AL (3.0 vs. 3.4 mm), respectively. R and M did not differ significantly. Bisphosphonate therapy may play a protective role in the pathogenesis of periodontal disease.
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O16. Gender Issues in Parenting Cleft Lip and Palate Babies in the Southern Part of Nigeria
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A. Umweni, S.A. Okeigbemen, School of Dentistry, College of Medical Sciences, University of Benin, Nigeria
Purpose: To determine the influence of gender on parents’ attitudes toward the birth of cleft lip and palate (CLAP) babies and make suggestions on ways of ameliorating these effects.
Twenty-five mothers of CLAP babies who attended the University of Benin Teaching Hospital for an eighteen-month period consented to participate in the study. The hospital is the tertiary institution covering oral health in Edo State, Delta State, and some part of Ondo State. An interview-administered questionnaire was used for the study. The questionnaires were pretested for reliability, and data was analyzed using SPSS 11. Twenty-three (92 percent) of the mothers were married, one (4 percent) was widowed, and one (4 percent) was divorced. Of those married, five (22 percent) were from polygamous settings. The mothers’ reaction to the birth of CLAP babies was shock and grief: twenty-three (92 percent) mothers compared to seven (28 percent) fathers (p<0.01). One mother had to see the psychiatrist. Fifteen (60 percent) of the fathers were calm or indifferent compared to 4 percent of the mothers (P<.001); three fathers (12 percent) reacted negatively, ranging from anger to outright rejection. The mothers’ concern was not statistically significantly different from that of the fathers. The financial burden was common to both parents. Reaction of in-laws showed an adverse effect on the mothers and their relationship with their husbands. Seventeen mothers (68 percent) had a negative reaction from in-laws, ranging from lack of concern to false accusation of witchcraft and outright rejection; six mothers (24 percent) had supportive in-laws (p<.001). Four (80 percent) of the seventeen mothers from polygamous settings had adverse reactions from in-laws. Five (20 percent) were despised by their husbands. Of the five that were despised, two (40 percent) had a temporary separation, and there was one case of divorce. Eighty percent of the mothers that were despised by their husbands also had a negative reaction from their in-laws. This study showed that the birth of a CLAP child has more adverse effects on its mother than its father. The effects are accentuated by the reaction of in-laws, polygamy, poverty, and societal influence. Preliminary observation of these issues led to the author’s initiative to establish a center to address them through public awareness and seminar programs. More effort is required by the government of Nigeria and other agencies to address these issues. Gender plays an important role on the severity of the adverse effects on mothers regarding the birth of CLAP babies. Issues affecting women as a result of gender inequality may be better handled by women through effective leadership.
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O17. Oral Health Care in the National Health Service: Paying for Outcomes, Not Output
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Barry Cockcroft, National Health Service, United Kingdom
Purpose: To examine oral health care in the U.K. National Health Service.
The National Health Service (NHS) was founded in 1948 to provide health care to the British people irrespective of their financial means. It has remained one of Britain’s best-loved institutions. Dentistry was one of the pillars on which the NHS was based. Prior to the establishment of the NHS, dental care in Britain had historically been available only to a relatively small proportion of the population who could afford to pay for their treatment. Dental health in Britain, and in England in particular, has improved enormously during the last fifty years, with caries incidence in children falling significantly and patient expectations of their dental health transformed. With high levels of disease incidence, a service-based system was appropriate in the early years of the NHS. The system encouraged productivity and delivered what was required at that time. Moving to a system of remuneration based on a more preventive approach is not easy, but the Department of Health in England is committed to reforming the delivery of dental services based on the latest preventive and minimally interventive modes of treatment. Provision of dental care has traditionally been the preserve of the dental profession, but the role of the professions complementary to dentistry (PCDs) is set for a considerable expansion in the next few years. The General Dental Council, the regulatory body for the profession in England, recently amended its rules on the clinical tasks that PCDs can perform. These tasks will be based on competency rather than job title. The Department of Health recently implemented a large expansion of PCD training, including the opening of a school dedicated to the training of PCDs. These changes will fundamentally change the nature of care that patients receive from NHS. The intention is to provide a patient-focused, preventive-based service fit for the twenty-first century and available to all who need it.
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O18. Strategies for Mentoring Undergraduate Research
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Kami M. Hanson, Joy Phipps Gall, Weber State University, United States
Purpose: To share with colleagues strategies for mentoring and modeling undergraduate research in schools of dental hygiene.
Research and educational practices that support continued scientific and ethnographic inquiry by females in the dental profession ensure that they will be considered vital intellectual capacity for the future. This presentation will include experiential narrative on strategies that foster interest and activity in undergraduate research, a description of how undergraduate research can be incorporated into the dental hygiene curriculum, and recommendations regarding research models and emerging topics. The authors will share personal experiences starting in 2001 regarding undergraduate research and topics of emphasis within the Department of Dental Hygiene at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. Emphasis will be placed on the increase in student interest in scientific and ethnographic research as well as a noted shift in research topics that are substantive and currently relevant. The authors will mention the importance of modeling and "learning by doing," with a specific mention of the use of emergent technologies as a means of computer-mediated communication. Using technologies such as the Internet, weblogs, and Wikis opens up international dialogue that connects participants to resources and potential collaborations. Specific examples will be presented using these technologies, and conference participants will be encouraged to participate in an online collaborative community regarding women’s issues and research agendas. Presenters have set up a peer-to-peer learning website (www.faculty.weber.edu/khanson4), an international research Wiki (seedwiki.com, search for international collaborative research), and a community oral health blog (communityoralhealth.blogspot.com) specific for these purposes and will model their usage. Consideration will be given to educators who function in a school that does not have undergraduate resources and must investigate outside options for funding. Strategies will be offered for proposal and grant writing to obtain funding, with an analysis of the research capacities in developing countries. Advice particular to dental hygiene will be offered on involving students that are on a nonbaccalaureate degree-earning track.
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O19. A Comparison of Local and National Leadership Programs
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O1. a u.s. study...
O2. themes in definitions...
