Exploring Parental Views on Community Water Fluoridation and Alternative Policy Options in the Context of Cessation
Date
2018-08-15
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Abstract
Background and Rationale: Instances of cessation of community water fluoridation (hereafter ‘fluoridation’), such as the decision to cease fluoridation in Calgary in 2011, have raised broader questions about the acceptability, to members of the public, of population-level preventive measures in public health. In the wake of fluoridation cessation in Calgary, it is important to gain an understanding of how members of the public view population-level interventions in dental health, to ensure that future policies best align with the views of those served by those policies. Conceptual Frameworks: We approached this work through the lenses of public health ethics and public engagement of science. Public health ethics focuses on populations, considering the collective rather than the individual. A public engagement with science lens explores the roles of the scientific community and of the public in framing scientific discussion. Research Objective: We sought to explore perspectives on several possible population-level dental public health interventions held by parents of young children in Calgary, Canada, where fluoridation was previously but is no longer in place. Methods: The target population was parents of young children. Using focus groups and pre- and post-focus group questionnaires, four policy approaches to preventive dental health for populations (i.e., municipal-level fluoridation; state/provincial-level fluoridation; universal dental care; and salt or milk fluoridation) were introduced and discussed. Focus group data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Three themes were developed: 1. Expert/lay relations explores how the public regards and behaves toward others who are understood to have different levels of expertise, knowledge, or credentials, vis-à-vis dental public health policy; 2. Ways of knowing explores how people use different forms and sources of information to determine whether a belief is valid; and 3. Values in public health focuses on people’s core principles regarding the importance and worth of dental public health interventions. Conclusion: Our research confirms the importance of engaging these publics in developing dental public health policies. We also found that of the four policy options presented, universal dental care was preferred, which provides some insight into attributes of population-level interventions that are acceptable to members of the public in Calgary.
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Keywords
Community water fluoridation, Policy, Focus groups, Calgary, Public Health
Citation
Lang, R. (2018). Exploring Parental Views on Community Water Fluoridation and Alternative Policy Options in the Context of Cessation (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/32819