# Social networks and oral health-related risk behaviors in public housing communities

> **NIH NIH R01** · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · 2022 · $755,937

## Abstract

Social influences are important in the causes of oral health disparities and to changing health-related
behaviors in disadvantaged populations. Conceptual models of children’s oral health include dynamic social
pathways and the key role of caregivers’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. There is a critical lack of
information about these pathways, particularly how social influences shape knowledge, attitudes and behaviors
related to oral health.
 We propose to conduct a longitudinal sociometric network analysis among residents of public housing to
better understand the factors that affect oral health-related risk behaviors. Although network science is
relatively new to oral health disparities research, it is a well-established tool in other areas of health research.
Understanding the role of social influences on the initiation and progression of oral disease is critical to the
development, testing and implementation of effective behavioral interventions.
 Our rationale is that by using network science to measure social interactions in a community, we will be
able to define social network pathways that influence the risk-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors that
are associated with oral disease. Using knowledge about social influence that is gained from our research,
future interventions may be tested and implemented that will prevent and reduce oral disease for those most at
risk for oral disease.
 Our specific aims are to:
(1) Recruit and enroll a community of public housing residents to evaluate the structural properties of their
social networks relevant to oral health risk-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors at baseline and at 9-
month intervals over two time points,
 (2) Identify and quantify the exogenous and endogenous factors associated with the observed network
structures and,
 (3) Determine the association between the composition and structure of networks and oral health risk-related
knowledge, attitudes and/or behaviors over time.
 Public housing residents are a high impact, high-reward population for the study of oral health disparities
because they involve spatial clustering of poverty and poor health. This produces a unique social climate and
associated stigma for study that is not seen in other disadvantaged communities.
 Our research will study network systems that influence social behaviors that are associated with oral
disease and health disparities. Findings from our proposed observational study of public housing communities
will help to inform the design of interventions that respond to the complex system dynamics of populations
affected by health disparities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10460963
- **Project number:** 5R01DE027985-05
- **Recipient organization:** BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS
- **Principal Investigator:** Raul I Garcia
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $755,937
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-08-15 → 2025-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10460963

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10460963, Social networks and oral health-related risk behaviors in public housing communities (5R01DE027985-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10460963. Licensed CC0.

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