Establishing the research agenda for oral healthcare using the Dialogue Model—patient involvement in a joint research agenda with practitioners

Puck van der Wouden*, Femke Hilverda, Geert van der Heijden, Hagay Shemesh, Carina Pittens

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Engagement of patients in the composition of a research agenda is essential to reduce the gap between research and practice and thereby generate more impact. The aim of this study was to develop a research agenda for oral health. Experienced challenges and needs with oral health(care) of practitioners and patients formed the input for the research agenda. We describe the identification of research priorities of patients and the integration of these with previously identified research priorities of practitioners, using a participatory multi-phase approach for research agenda setting (Dialogue Model). Via focus group discussions, 32 research topics were generated. Next, 1495 patients prioritized these topics in an online survey. In a dialogue meeting, a joint research agenda of eight research topics was agreed upon. Many topics were contributed by patients, but were prioritized by both stakeholder groups. The most important topics concerned behavior change and the relation between general and oral health. Other topics that were prioritized covered affordability and accessibility as well as health system research and organizational issues. By considering different perspectives, this research agenda has uncovered directions for future research that go beyond evident research topics, as many topics are currently underrepresented in oral healthcare research.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere12842
Number of pages15
JournalEuropean Journal of Oral Sciences
Volume130
Issue number1
Early online date22 Dec 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. European Journal of Oral Sciences published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Scandinavian Division of the International Association for Dental Research.

Keywords

  • dental research
  • patient participation
  • research and development
  • research priorities

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