Ross, Alastair J;
Sherriff, Andrea;
Kidd, Jamie;
Deas, Leigh;
Eaves, Jenny;
Blokland, Alex;
Wright, Bill;
... Macpherson, Lorna MD; + view all
(2023)
Evaluating childsmile, Scotland's National Oral Health Improvement Programme for children.
Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology
, 51
(1)
pp. 133-138.
10.1111/cdoe.12790.
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Abstract
In the early 2000s, a Scottish Government Oral Health Action Plan identified the need for a national programme to improve child oral health and reduce inequalities. ‘Childsmile’ aimed to improve child oral health in Scotland, reduce inequalities in outcomes and access to dental services, and to shift the balance of care from treatment to prevention through targeted and universal components in dental practice, community and educational settings. This paper describes how an embedded, theory-based research and evaluation arm with multi-disciplinary input helps determine priorities and provides important strategic direction. Programme theory is articulated in dedicated, dynamic logic models, and evaluation themes are as follows: population-level data linkage; trials and economic evaluations; investigations drawing from behavioural and implementation science; evidence reviews and updates; and applications of systems science. There is also a growing knowledge sharing network internationally. Collaborative working from all stakeholders is necessary to maintain gains and to address areas that may not be working as well, and never more so with the major disruptions to the programme from the COVID-19 pandemic and response. Conclusions are that evaluation and research are synergistic with a complex, dynamic programme like Childsmile. The evidence obtained allows for appraisal of the relative strengths of component interventions and the reach and impact of Childsmile to feed into national policy.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Evaluating childsmile, Scotland's National Oral Health Improvement Programme for children |
| Location: | Denmark |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1111/cdoe.12790 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/cdoe.12790 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | childhood caries, dental public health, programme evaluation |
| 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/10187912 |
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