Geofencing: mobile technology to increase the utilization of oral health services among adolescents in rural North Carolina - Project
Dental
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oral
adolescents.
smartphones.
messages.
including
populations
used
pre-defined
effectiveness
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successfully
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underserved
prevention
Summary
caries is the most common chronic disease affecting children and adolescents in the United States,
affecting individuals from rural and underserved populations. School-based sealant programs
an evidence-based strategy to prevent dental disease. Yet, these programs are underutilized by adolescents
to their oral health needs, mainly due o a lack of interest to participate. Therefore, improving adolescent
health, particularly among vulnerable populations, requires an understanding of how to best reach
I mportantly, even in low-income populations, most adolescents have access to and regularly use
This offers a promising opportunity to test smartphone-based delivery of oral health promotional
Smartphone-based health interventions are increasingly implemented in settings worldwide,
among underserved or low-income adolescent populations. Yet, how to best target messages to such
remains to be determined. Geofencing is an innovative smartphone communications technology
mainly by businesses to engage their audience by sending messages to smartphone users who enter a
location or geographic area (a `geofence'). Evidence from the business sector demonstrates the
of this approach to reach target audiences; however, this approach has not been widely adopted
a health promotion tool. Recent work by the proposed research team indicates that geofencing can
reach adults in a rural region with limited access to dental care; how to use this technology to reach
emains unknown. The overall goal of the proposed project is to i mprove the oral health of
adolescents by using geofencing t echnology to promote the use of a school-based oral health
program. The specific aims are to: 1)
t
Develop participatory-designed oral health services utilization
message campaign for geofence-triggered delivery by smartphone to rural adolescents.; and 2) Implement
geofence distribution and test efficacy of a geofence message campaign on the utilization of oral health services
in the community. Using a mixed-methods approach and guided by the Elaboration Likelihood Model for
message development and Anderson Model for Health Services Use, this project will develop, implement, and
evaluate oral health promotional messages targeting adolescents and parents in a rural, underserved community
using geofence technology. The
research
based Successful completion of the proposed
aims will advance innovative, technology-based oral health promotional strategies for effective reach to
adolescents, who represent an understudied population. The results will provide foundational data to inform
scale-up of geofencing technology for health communication to promote health behavior change.
proposal leverages a unique academic-community partnership between the
team and a local school district. It builds on the considerable experience gained in several community-
participatory research projects conducted by the research team.
