OUTREACH
COMMUNITY BASED RESEARCH

Community based research is an important component of the UCI Center on Stress & Health because it is important for translational studies to impact the community with cutting edge and timely interventions that are acceptable to the people who will be most affected. To this end the UCI Center on Stress & Health has partnered with community based organizations such as Latino Health Access and Healthy Smiles to create a collaboration that emphasizes the input from community agencies as well as university researchers to help children and families manage pain and anxiety in the medical environment.

LATINO HEALTH ACCESS (LHA)

Latino Health Access is a nonprofit organization founded in 1993 in Santa Ana, California to combat serious public health problems plaguing a community of uninsured and under-served families.

The UCI Center on Stress & Health has partnered with LHA to understand what barriers underserved children and parents face in pain management after surgeries. We hope to continue to work with LHA on upcoming projects involving healthcare disparities and management of pain and anxiety surrounding the medical environment.

HEALTHY SMILES

Oral pain in children is widely recognized as a source of discomfort and anxiety, and is usually associated with the presence of extensive decay - one of the most prevalent childhood diseases in our country. Healthy Smiles of Orange County works to improve the oral health of children in Orange County through collaborative programs directed at: Prevention, Education, Access to Treatment and Advocacy.

The UCI Center on Stress & Health is currently working with the Healthy Smiles of Orange County to better understand the role of pain and anxiety in dental health.