UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Evaluating oral health promotion: need for quality outcome measures

Watt, RG; Harnett, R; Daly, B; Fuller, SS; Kay, E; Morgan, A; Munday, P; ... Treasure, ET; + view all (2006) Evaluating oral health promotion: need for quality outcome measures. COMMUNITY DENT ORAL , 34 (1) 11 - 17. Green open access

[thumbnail of Microsoft_Word_-_final_toolkit.pdf]
Preview
PDF
Microsoft_Word_-_final_toolkit.pdf

Download (187kB)

Abstract

Oral health promotion effectiveness reviews have identified the need to improve the quality of the evaluation of interventions. A project was undertaken to identify and assess the quality of available outcome measures. This paper describes the methodology adopted and highlights the need for further development of oral health promotion outcome measures. Initially a thorough and comprehensive search of both the published and unpublished literature was undertaken to identify potential outcome measures. A set of quality criteria was then developed and used to assess the identified measures. The search identified a total of 1202 outcome measures of which 39% (n = 466) were developed for use with schoolchildren. A high proportion of the identified measures were classified as health literacy and healthy lifestyle outcomes, appropriate for the evaluation of oral health education activities. Only 1% (n = 12) of measures identified were classified in the healthy public policy category. When reviewed against the quality criteria, 49% (n = 594) of the measures were considered satisfactory. The poorest performing measures were those classified as healthy lifestyle and health literacy measures in which only 33% (n = 72) and 41% (n = 240), respectively, were deemed to be of satisfactory quality. In conclusion, a significant number of oral health promotion evaluation outcome measures have been identified although their quality is highly variable. Very few high-quality outcome measures exist for use in the evaluation of oral health policy and environmental interventions. The lack of appropriate and high-quality outcome measures is hampering the development of oral health promotion.

Type: Article
Title: Evaluating oral health promotion: need for quality outcome measures
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Keywords: evaluation, oral health promotion, outcome measures, INDICATORS, EDUCATION
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/2318
Downloads since deposit
4,550Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item