KDHRC receives new NIH funding for Oral Health Clearinghouse Phase I

KDHRC is proud to announce that we have been awarded funding for Phase I of our Small Business Innovation Research proposal to develop a Clearinghouse for oral health research and clinical trials (OHRCT). The Clearinghouse will be a web-based interactive site with training, tools, and collaborative spaces for oral health researchers and providers to increase minority patient participation in OHRCT.

Provider education can significantly boost clinical trial discussions and patient enrollment, with interventions increasing providers’ willingness to discuss trials by up to 87% and provider recommendations making patients 13 times more likely to enroll. Oral health clinical trials, like many others, often lack representation from minority and high risk groups, despite the many personal and societal benefits from such participation. OHRCT seeks to fill this gap through researcher and provider training.

In Phase I of the program, KDHRC will explore the extent to which  researchers and providers find the Clearinghouse prototype to be usable, engaging, acceptable, motivating, and persuasive. KDHRC staffers, under the direction of Nicole Wanty as PI, will collaborate with OHRCT experts and key oral health leaders, develop the Clearinghouse website prototype, and conduct focus group usability testing of the Clearinghouse prototype.

We are thrilled to get started on this exciting new project and will share more exciting updates soon!