Early Childhood Topics

• Head Start/Early Head Start
• Early Care & Education Settings
• Home Visiting
• Early Childhood Education Practices
• Studying Children in a Multicultural Society
• Clients

Head Start Oral Health Initiative: Improving Dental Care for Low-Income Children

Good oral health is essential to general health and well-being. Yet many children have unmet needs for dental care. In 2006, the Office of Head Start funded 52 Head Start, Early Head Start, and Migrant/Seasonal Head Start programs to implement an initiative to improve the oral health services provided to pregnant women and children from birth to age 5. Grantees designed a diverse set of interventions tailored to the needs of their target population.

Mathematica's evaluation documented grantees' implementation experiences and challenges, identified promising program models and service delivery strategies, assessed the feasibility of replication or expansion of the models in other programs and communities, and disseminated information about lessons learned to the broader Head Start community.

The evaluation collected and analyzed data from three main sources: (1) telephone interviews with all 52 grantee directors, (2) a web-based management information system designed for use by the grantees, and (3) site visits to a subset of 16 grantees. Altarum was a subcontractor on the project. The Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services funded the study.

Key findings showed that grantees developed and implemented oral health service delivery strategies that were responsive to the characteristics of their communities and the needs of the pregnant women and children they served. Implementing services and activities required substantial amounts of staff time, often more than grantees originally estimated. The initiative helped grantees to lay the groundwork for partnerships, services, and policies that continued after the grant period ended.

Among children enrolled in the initiative, about one-quarter were infants and toddlers at enrollment, and more than three-quarters were preschoolers. Nearly 40 percent of the children were HIspanic or Latino, a similar percentage were white, and almost 20 percent were African American.

Publications

"Strategies for Promoting Prevention and Improving Oral Health Care Delivery in Head Start: Findings from the Oral Health Initiative Evaluation. Volume I: Final Technical Report" (October 2008)
"A Guide to Emerging Strategies for Promoting Prevention and Improving Oral Health Care Delivery in Head Start: Lessons from the Oral Health Initiative Evaluation. Final Report Volume II" (June 2008)
"Oral Health Promotion, Prevention, and Treatment Strategies for Head Start Families: Early Findings from the Oral Health Initiative Evaluation. Volume I: Final Interim Report" (September 2007)
"Oral Health Promotion, Prevention, and Treatment Strategies for Head Start Families: Early Findings from the Oral Health Initiative Evaluation. Volume II: Site Profiles" (September 2007)