PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The goal of this K08 award is for Dr. Kearns, a dentist scientist at the University of California, San Francisco, to
gain support and training to become an independent investigator focused on translational research that
encourages the use of evidence-based public health interventions to promote oral and overall health. Excess
added sugars consumption leads to increased risk for cardiovascular disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and
dental caries. While various evidence-based policies and programs have been developed to reduce sugar
consumption in multiple-settings, to date, these strategies have not been widely adopted. The dental
profession, comprised of numerous stakeholders (e.g., dental organizations, dental leaders, dentists), has the
potential to help close this evidence to policy gap. Similar to efforts to support community water fluoridation,
the dental profession can encourage innovative solutions to dental caries by engaging in sugar reduction policy
dissemination (SRPD) behaviors (e.g., preparing issue briefs, publishing consensus statements, conducting
policy research and surveillance, engaging with state coalitions, doing media outreach, and delivering office-
based communication, among others.) However, dentist stakeholder involvement in sugar reduction policy and
program dissemination is low. The overarching objective of this K08 proposal is to facilitate implementing an
evidence-based intervention designed to increase dentist stakeholder engagement in SRPD. This K08 project
aims to identify barriers and facilitators to dentist stakeholders' involvement in SRPD and to develop and pilot
test an intervention that will increase dentists' SRPD behaviors. A carefully devised training plan will allow the
candidate to gain expertise in dissemination and implementation (D&I) science, in-depth interviews and focus
groups, quantitative methods and survey statistics, policy-relevant experimental methods to foster provider
behavior change, and in grantwriting. Training goals will be achieved through rigorous mentorship from
experts, graduate-level coursework, and advanced professional development activities. The proposed research
project is congruent with training goals. Aim 1 includes an analysis of sugar industry public relations campaigns
to identify the techniques used to influence dentist stakeholders' SRPD behaviors. Aim 2-Study A includes in-
depth interviews with dentist leaders to identify facilitators and barriers to SRPD behaviors and to help identify
questionnaire items for Aim 2-Study B, a large, nationally representative-survey of US licensed dentists to
determine the relationship between drivers of SRPD behaviors and actual SRPD behaviors. Aim 3 involves
developing and pilot testing an intervention strategy to change dentist stakeholders SRPD behaviors. The
long-term objective of this research is to speed the translation of the US Dietary Guidelines added sugar
recommendation into policy and practice. This award will complement the candidate's existing strengths by
providing training in new domains and will prepare her for an independent research career in D&I science to
improve oral health.