Oral Health-Related Quality of Life in children and their Families

Boston University Medical Campus, Boston MA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of this project is to allow 50% protected time for the PI to continue and build on her extant patient-oriented research program on oral-specific, health-related quality of life in children and their families and mentor junior faculty and students in research. The specific aims of her research include the following: 1. Continue to develop, evaluate, refine and validate a measure of pediatric OQOL (POQOL) for use with children and adolescents. This will include evaluation of feasibility, responsiveness to change and reliability. 2. For each of the four age-appropriate versions of the POQOL instrument, develop a comparable Spanish-Language version that is sensitive to cultural variations in the meanings of the concepts measured. 3. Explore potential sources of disparities in oral health by combining the POQOL assessments with other clinical, demographic and psychosocial measures. 4. Develop short-form measures of POQOL suitable for use as screening measures in pediatric medical practices, schools, and other sites. Using the research entailed in the specific aims as a platform for further studies and a rich source of data, the PI will mentor junior faculty and students in the responsible conduct of patient-oriented research. Specific topics covered with each mentee will include, but are not limited to the following: 1. ethical conduct in research and research writing;2. conceptual underpinnings of research and the selection of an appropriate conceptual model;3. research methods, including formulation of research questions and hypotheses, study design, sample selection and recruitment, selection and specification of outcome measures and independent variables, study procedures, data collection and management, and data analysis/interpretation;4. preparation of manuscripts and their publication in peer-reviewed journals;and 5. preparations of posters and slide presentations to present to national, regional and local scientific meetings.