Disparities in Early Childhood Caries Among Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Preschool Aged Children

The purpose of this supplement is to conduct qualitative, formative research to understand oral health knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander families and preschool teachers living in Hilo, Hawaii—an area where 33.9 % of the population is Native Hawaiian, which is the highest in the country.

From the findings, researchers hope to develop, pilot, and evaluate an oral health intervention for Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander parents and/or staff of preschool aged children.

This supplement is based on the data from the parent grant, “Defining Microbiological Drivers of Early Childhood Caries in Preschoolers in Southern Arizona” and administrative supplement, “Defining Microbiological Drivers of Early Childhood Caries in Preschoolers of Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Descent.”

This diversity supplement aims to expand  the parent award to design a targeted intervention/education program that is based on the knowledge gained from familial versus classroom-based early childhood caries-causing bacteria transmission patterns and to provide career development mentoring and support to Misty Pacheco, the only female and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander tenured faculty member in the University of Hawai`i at Hilo’s Department of Kinesiology and Exercise Science.

Pacheco has a diverse background in public health and health disparities research, focusing on Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders. To achieve her career goal of becoming an independent scientist who utilizes social behavioral and biomedical methods to conduct health disparities research, Dr. Pacheco seeks to gain necessary skills in formative research, intervention design, basic molecular biology techniques for sample processing, programming, computation, data analysis, and grant writing.

Supplement name: Disparities in Early Childhood Caries Among Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander Preschool Aged Children Specific Aims
Grant number: 3U54MD012388-04S2
IRB number: 2020-00156 (UH-Hilo)

About the Investigators

Viacheslav “Slava” Fofanov, PhD

Co-Investigator

Associate Director, Research and Graduate Programs

School of Informatics, Computing and Cyber Systems (SICCS)

Email: Viacheslav.Fofanov@nau.edu Research Interests: Statistical methods, database design, data quality, data entry, and coding, honest broker operations

Misty Pacheco, PhD

Co-Investigator

Associate Professor and Department Chair of Kinesiology and Exercise Sciences

University of Hawai`i at Hilo

Email: mistyp@hawaii.edu

Research Interests: Early Childhood caries in preschoolers of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders, HIV prevention, chlamydia knowledge and prevention, diverse & rural populations