# The NAME Project: A Narrative Dentistry and Medical Education Project

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK · 2022 · $281,506

## Abstract

Oral healthcare outcomes for racial and ethnic minorities present a stark divide between populations who are
able to access regular dental care, and communities struggling to receive basic and sometimes life saving
treatment. The public health challe1ru&Macism will be explored within the context of dental care. The
Narratives and Medical Education ( • ) project is focused on understanding and responding to racism in
dental care by generating an innovative, replicable community-engagement model that disrupts ineffective
traditional systems of care and seeks to understand the experiences of marginalized communities. Asset and
socio-ecological models will be utilized to conduct needs assessments among communities with underserved
racial and ethnic minority prospective patients. The disruptor to traditional locations of care that takes place in
dental offices, clinics and hospitals is public libraries. These community spaces located across the United
States are one of the few remaining places that provide free and accessible entry for all individuals. We aim to
demonstrate the effectiveness of utilizing public libraries as alternative, neutral, and safe spaces for
underserved racial and ethnic minority prospective patients to: 1) acquire new information about existing local
dental care services and to learn how to navigate and gain access to these services; and 2) to engage with
trainee practitioners - predoctoral dental students and dental hygiene students; and 3) to share their stories
with journalism and pre-dentistry/health students. Health fairs hosted at public libraries will provide an
opportunity for service learning and community engagement for trainee dental and dental hygiene students.
The experience of dental and dental hygiene students in working with diverse communities will be captured
through focus groups. Post community engagement activities, the process of reflective practice will be
introduced in narrative dentistry workshops with predoctoral dental students and dental hygiene students,
leading to the creation of narrative dentistry modules that could be incorporated into dental health care training
curriculum.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10511630
- **Project number:** 1R21DE032161-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK
- **Principal Investigator:** Eileen Harrington
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $281,506
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-01 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10511630

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10511630, The NAME Project: A Narrative Dentistry and Medical Education Project (1R21DE032161-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10511630. Licensed CC0.

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