National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 2023 Feb;51(1):43-45. doi: 10.1111/cdoe.12814.
The Consensus Statement about behavioral and social sciences in oral health encourages future research to draw on testable theories that specify causal pathways that reflect the complex nature of oral health. In this commentary, we amplify the importance of explicit and well-specified theory in oral health intervention research, acknowledging that problematic use of theory has limited its utility in developing effective public health interventions. Also, we affirm the need to focus on determinants of oral health-and health inequities-most likely to drive meaningful change, and to understand the causal pathways that connect drivers of change from the individual to the global level. We view theory-based, causal mechanisms research as a powerful approach to building successful public health interventions, and suggest resources to inspire such research, including exemplary studies, methodologies, and collaborative initiatives that facilitate strong theory-based public health research.
关于口腔健康中行为和社会科学的共识声明鼓励未来的研究借鉴可测试的理论，这些理论指定了反映口腔健康复杂性的因果途径。在这篇评论中，我们强调了在口腔健康干预研究中明确和精确定义理论的重要性，承认理论的不当使用限制了其在开发有效公共卫生干预措施方面的效用。此外，我们还肯定了需要关注最有可能推动有意义变革的口腔健康和健康不公平的决定因素，并了解将变革驱动因素从个人层面连接到全球层面的因果途径。我们认为基于理论的因果机制研究是构建成功公共卫生干预措施的有力方法，并提出了一些资源来激发这种研究，包括具有示范意义的研究、方法学以及促进强有力的基于理论的公共卫生研究的合作倡议。
