Advancing public health communication in the era of empowered health consumerism

Insights from dental hygienist-client interactions around community water fluoridation

Bibliographic Data

ID15295331
AuthorsCynthia Weijs (0000-0003-1247-2155, University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, corresponding author), Salima Thawer (0000-0001-8993-7999, University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary, Alberta, Canada), Katrina Fundytus (0000-0001-8288-0926, University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary, Alberta, Canada), Lindsay Mclaren (0000-0002-8435-4804, University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
Year2020
Volume32
Issue2
Pages217-229
Publication date2020-07-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCritical Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0958-1596 • E-ISSN: 1469-3682
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09581596.2020.1791315
OpenAlexW3043512998
LanguageEN
References cited39

Within a neoliberal environment that prioritizes the individual over the community, understanding challenges associated with advancing population-level or universal interventions is important if public health is to remain a relevant collective institution. As a case example, we considered a controversial public health intervention – community water fluoridation – and undertook focus groups with dental hygienists in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, to explore ways that fluoridation (a population-level intervention) is understood and discussed in their day-to-day clinical interactions as frontline cavity prevention experts. The overarching theme in our data centered around a key public health conundrum – that is, the difficulties reconciling individual and community- or population-level responsibility for health. Dental hygienists wrestled with the transdisciplinary nature of population-level public health interventions; acknowledged changing roles and relationships between themselves and their patients; and revealed dissonance in their own beliefs about individualism and collectivism in health. Our findings shed light on communication challenges where public health information delivery intersects with clinical encounters, in the context of empowered and knowledgeable health consumers. A challenge for the public health community is to reflect on how to better address a contemporary public’s reasonable information requests and negotiate the clash between individualism and collectivism more effectively

Community health · Context (archaeology · Environmental health · Geography · Health promotion · Political science · Population · Population health · Psychological intervention · Public health · Public relations · Sociology · Dental Health and Care Utilization · Health Policy Implementation Science · Healthcare cost, quality, practices · Medicine · Nursing

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