Meaningful Engagement of People With Lived Experience of Homelessness in the Co-design of Oral Health Educational Resources

Poor oral health outcomes and low access to dental services are common between people who experience homelessness. Practitioners from health and social care sectors face complex and interconnected oral health needs to address. Therefore, there is an expressed interest to increase access to free educational and training resources that can positively impact on practitioners’ ability to communicate and to engage in oral health-related conversations with these groups. Engaging people with lived experience in homelessness, trauma and drug abuse in interventions that will co-design these resources ensures that the project will meet participants’ needs and expectations. This research aimed to co-design an oral health guide to support practitioners and students training on oral health promotion. Community-based participatory research conducted engagement workshops and interviews with people with lived experience, health and third sector practitioners, and post and undergraduate students in dental public health. Content analysis was used to identify key principles and approaches to be adopted in the guide. The preliminary findings shown that information on the homelessness context and its impact on oral health outcomes, followed by detailed steps to increase awareness in oral health care and local dental services need to be presented in an easy and concise language. The practitioner attitude, with a human rights and social justice-based approach, when using the guide was also higlithed as essential. This process of co-designing resources with the meaningful involvement of people with lived experience enabled the team to gain a deeper understanding of the oral health needs of people experiencing homelessness. These were important lessons that could be used to promote their engagement with oral health promotion interventions.