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WHO ARE MYSMILEBUDDY COACHES AND HOW ARE THEY TRAINED?

Coaches help people improve their own performance, reach their own goals, and fulfill their own action plans. Skilled coaches recognize that each individual holds the answers to their own problems, that people often need help prioritizing and acting on their own values and interests.

 

MySmileBuddy Program coaches partner with families to help them achieve their own aspirations and to help them clear away barriers and constraints to adopting healthy behaviors. MySmileBuddy Program Coaches may be

  • Health medical or dental professionals

  • Community Health Workers

  • Social Workers

  • Health Educators

  • Nutritionists

 

MySmileBuddy Coaches partner with families of children at risk for tooth decay by:

  • providing access to the MySmileBuddy Program

  • referring families to a range of services that would otherwise impede attention to their children’s oral health (e.g. housing, food, employment, immigration, education, and general health needs)

  • guiding families through the MySmileBuddy Program’s App (education, risk assessment, goal setting, and action planning components)

  • helping families design and implement their own action plans to ensure that those plans are realistic, achievable, and potentially impactful

  • providing ongoing support and assistance to families as needed

 

TRAINING PROTOCOL

The MySmileBuddy training program is readily adaptable to meet the training needs of diverse organizations and users. A series of training modules developed by the MySmileBuddy Team can be delivered as live trainer-led sessions – in-person or virtually – as standalone self-guided modules that trainees can navigate independently, or using a hybrid approach that integrates both live and asynchronous self-guided training models.

 

The MySmileBuddy training program consists of five primary modules:

  1. Introduction: Therapeutic Caries Counseling & the MySmileBuddy Program

  2. MySmileBuddy: A Holistic Approach to Combating Caries

  3. MySmileBuddy Core Elements & Program Implementation

  4. MySmileBuddy in Practice: Program Access & Implementation

  5. MySmileBuddy Practice & Implementation Support

 

Each training module was carefully designed to thoroughly prepare Coaches to successfully navigate and administer the MySmileBuddy Program in a variety of community and clinical settings. The content of each module successively builds upon that of the prior modules and each begins with a brief review of key points previously covered. Periodic knowledge check quizzes are integrated throughout the foundational knowledge modules to ensure trainees understand and retain essential material. Each module closes with a recap and review of key take-away messages from the module to highlight important content.

 

TRAINING MODULE CONTENT[CC1]  OVERVIEW

 

Module 1 – Introduction: Therapeutic Caries Counseling & the MySmileBuddy Program

1.1 – Introduction & Background

  • Dental Caries as a problem

    • Definition

    • Prevalence

    • Disparities and inequities

    • Consequences

    • Current treatment

    • Recurrence and retreatment

    • Multifactorial etiology

Knowledge check quiz

1.2 – Nutrition & Oral Health

  • Introduction to the bidirectional relationship between diet/nutrition and oral health

  • Diet-related oral diseases and conditions

  • The role of bacteria

  • Dietary risk factors

  • Addressing oral and systemic health

1.3 – Behavioral Foundations of Therapeutic Caries Counseling & the MySmileBuddy Program

Recap & Review

  • Healthy diet for a healthy mouth

    • Foods & Beverages

    • Tips: healthy snacks, weaning, cutting back on sugar

  • Healthy daily hygiene habits

    • Therapeutic toothbrushing

    • All about fluoride

  • Fluoride myths and misconceptions

  • Seeking regular dental care: what to expect at the dentist

    • Visiting the dentist

    • Types of dental visits

    • Tips for visiting the dentist

Knowledge check quiz

 

Module 2 – A Holistic Approach to Combating Caries

Holistic Approach to Combating Caries: Therapeutic Caries Counseling & the MySmileBuddy Program

  • Social determinants of health

  • Multifactorial nature of caries and oral health determinants

  • Facilitators and barriers to oral health behaviors

  • Need to address behavioral determinants

  • Promoting a paradigm shift to achieve the quadruple aim in healthcare

Therapeutic Caries Counseling

  • TCC video

  • Elements of the TCC approach

Knowledge check quiz

Program Rationale and Aims

  • The MySmileBuddy Program: A family-centered holistic approach to caries management

    • Introduction to MySmileBuddy

    • MySmileBuddy Development and Testing

    • MySmileBuddy modules

Community-based Implementation

  • MySmileBuddy Implementation Models

    • Guided and Independent navigation

  • Sample workflows

    • Individual-level implementation

    • Group/population-level implementation

Knowledge check quiz

Module wrap-up and review

  • Call to action: exemplars of MySmileBuddy implementation

  • Key take-away messages

 

Module 3 – MySmileBuddy Core Elements & Program Implementation (3-part Self-guided Module)

3.1 – MySmileBuddy Delivery: Core Elements (Self-guided Module)

Recap & Review

Getting to Know MySmileBuddy

  • Key components

  • Age-based content

    • Preschool children

    • Older children

  • Educational messages

Knowledge check quiz

 

3.2 – MySmileBuddy Delivery: Core Elements (continued) & Implementation Models (Self-guided Module)

  • Risk Assessment Modules

    • Daily dietary behaviors

    • Fluoride use

    • Hygiene and toothbrushing

    • Caries experience

    • Beliefs about caries

  • Tailored Goal Setting

  • Family-designed Action Planning

  • Follow-up Support & Progress Tracking

  • Administrative Support & Help Functions

  • MySmileBuddy Implementation Protocol

    • Coached Program – Guided Navigation

    • Stand-alone Program – Independent Navigation

  • Sample Workflows

    • Coached: Head Start Program or Community-based Organization

    • Standalone: Independent Navigation

 

3.3 – MySmileBuddy Delivery: Counseling Core Competencies (Self-guided Module)

Essential Elements of Motivational Interviewing

  • Introduction to Motivational Interviewing

    • Essential Elements

    • Motivational Interviewing in Practice

  • Introduction to effective counseling and communication techniques

  • Importance of building rapport and developing rapport-building skills

  • Remote counseling and communication techniques and tips

Knowledge check quiz

Module wrap-up and review

  • Key take-away messages

 

Module 4 – MySmileBuddy in Practice: Program Access & Implementation (3-part Self-guided Module)

4.1 – MySmileBuddy Access & Navigating the Platform (Self-guided Module)

Recap & Review

  • Trainee login

    • Logging into the MySmileBuddy Program Training platform

    • Creating implementation accounts in the Live MySmileBuddy Program

Navigating the MySmileBuddy Platform

  • Risk Assessment Modules

  • Age-based Content

    • Preschool children

    • Older children

  • Resources

  • Question Guidance

  • Embedded Videos

 

4.2 – Navigating the MySmileBuddy Platform (Self-guided Module)

Recap & Review

Navigating the MySmileBuddy Platform

  • Goal Setting

  • Action Planning

  • Follow-up

  • Tracking Progress

  • Video and Educational Content Library

MySmileBuddy Account Management

  • Editing Profiles

  • Adding, editing and removing members/children

 

4.3 –MySmileBuddy Program Implementation Models (Self-guided Module)

Coached implementation protocol (guided navigation)

  • Participant identification and referral

  • Participant enrollment procedures

    • Creating participant profiles

    • Participant withdrawal procedures

  • Participant Visit/Contact Protocol

    • Review of initial visit, interim follow-up visits, and final follow-up visit

  • Communication and Outreach

    • Telephone contacts

    • Text messaging

Stand-alone implementation protocol (independent navigation)

  • Participant identification and referral

  • Participant enrollment procedures

    • Creating participant profiles

  • Communication and Outreach

    • Telephone contacts

    • Text messaging

Managing and Monitoring MySmileBuddy Families

  • Documentation and maintaining records

    • Coach Log procedure

    • Note keeping and files

    • Record maintenance, concerns, and troubleshooting

    • Reporting Requirements

Participant withdrawal procedures

Responsible data management

  • Understanding your role in protecting participant data

  • Tips for safeguarding participant data

Knowledge check quiz

Module wrap-up and review

  • Key take-away messages

 

Module 5 – MySmileBuddy Practice & Implementation Support

Recap & Review

Skill-building & Implementation Support

  • MySmileBuddy Implementation Protocol

    • Coached Program – Guided Navigation

    • Stand-alone Program – Independent Navigation

  • Observation of trainers implementing MySmileBuddy

    • Real-time practice: platform navigation

  • Hands-on & Observed Trainee implementation of MySmileBuddy

    • Create new participant profile

    • Navigate through the MySmileBuddy platform

      • Review and reconcile diet module entries

    • Create goals and action plans

    • Reviewing and editing previously entered responses

  • Preparing for Program Roll-out

    • Practice and Program Materials Review

    • Finalize site-specific protocols

    • Implementation Timeline

  • Adjunctive Support: Social service navigation and Facilitating Connections

    • Drivers of Oral Health Inequities

    • Community Health Workers Connect

  • MySmileBuddy Support & Resources

    • Troubleshooting, problem solving, Quick-guide, and FAQs

Post-training Facilitation Plan

  • Practice & Implementation Support

 [CC1] Is this sharing too much publicly? Should we retain details of the content and just provide broad headings?

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