Table 2 Summary of barriers, facilitators, strategies and implacations for policy-making
Factors | Barriers | Facilitators | Strategies and implications for policy-making |
|---|---|---|---|
Individual level | Socioeconimic hardships lack of babysitting lack of transportation | Receive “constant” reminders [actual reminders from health care navigators and virtual reminders from mobile phone device (e.g., texting, smartphone app) | Use social media and smartphone device to promote prenatal oral health education and oral health care utilization |
Competing interest | |||
Lack of awarenss of benefits and importance | Receive prenatal oral health education and dental resources information on clinic resources and insurance coverage through smartphone device (social media, app) | ||
Lack of awarenss of dental coverage from state-supported medical insurance | Community-wide dissemination via mass media (e.g., TV commercials) of the benefits and importance of prenatal oral health and dental insurance coverage | ||
System level | Inadequate inter-professional collaboration | Advocacy by medical providers and social/community workers about the importance of prenatal oral health | Create healthcare system-wide change to promote interprofessional collaborations - Incorporate dental care into the medical care setting: shared physical location and shared electronic record system - Promote prenatal oral health counseling by non-MDs, e.g., nurse practitioners, midwives, medical technicians, and social workers. Billable prenatal oral health counseling service provided by medical providers and staff - Improve collaborations with social benefit programs (e.g., WIC), use innovative mediators to promote prenatal oral health, e.g., Doula, peer councilors |
Lack of awarenss of latest prenatal oral health guidelines | Introduce innovative educational program to improve prenatal oral health care guidelines dissemination and implementation among medical/dental providers and community/social workers | ||
Insufficient dentists providing treatment to underserved pregnant women | Develop specialized dental facilities providing prenatal oral health care to underserved groups, Hub-Spoke model |