Katharine Martinez, RDH, BS, MPH
Katharine Martinez, RDH, BS, MPH, graduated from the University of New Mexico in 2011 with her Bachelor’s in dental hygiene. After working in the clinical field for a year, she decided she wanted to expand her education and graduated in 2014 with her Master’s of Public Health from New Mexico State University.
Katharine has done consulting with home health agencies specifically with developing oral health training for patients with developmental disabilities, their caregivers, and nurses. Katharine has worked in a pediatric and general dental clinic providing dental hygiene for patients of all ages and backgrounds. She collaborated with a public health agency in Oregon that helped to develop and implement an access to dental care program for Clackamas County. The thing that drives her to work harder every day is the hope that she can make a positive impact and drive change for those who need help the most.
Katharine has done consulting with home health agencies specifically with developing oral health training for patients with developmental disabilities, their caregivers, and nurses. Katharine has worked in a pediatric and general dental clinic providing dental hygiene for patients of all ages and backgrounds. She collaborated with a public health agency in Oregon that helped to develop and implement an access to dental care program for Clackamas County. The thing that drives her to work harder every day is the hope that she can make a positive impact and drive change for those who need help the most.
Understanding Behavioral Theories Leads to Better Oral Health Education
Learning the theoretical frameworks of health promotion and disease prevention is an extremely important and useful tool for dental hygienists providing patient education. For health educators to deliver useful interventions to the public, we first need to be aware of the theories involved to understand how our population relates to behavior changes.
According to an article by the National Institutes...