The IMPROV Project: Protocol for Using a Modified Nominal Group Technique to Prioritise Oral Health Promotion Strategies With the Karen Refugee Community in Victoria.

ISSUE ADDRESSED: Refugee parents often experience barriers when accessing oral health information and dental services for their children, including language difficulties, unfamiliarity with health systems, and limited culturally appropriate resources. These challenges can contribute to poorer oral health outcomes. Participatory approaches may help identify oral health priorities that better reflect community experiences and service needs. The IMPROV project (Intervention Mapped for Promoting Refugee Oral Healthcare in Victoria) aims to address these gaps by engaging the Karen refugee community and key stakeholders in priority setting for oral health promotion.

METHODS

This protocol describes the prioritisation phase of the IMPROV project, which will use a modified Nominal Group Technique (NGT). Separate NGT workshops will be conducted with Karen refugee parents and other stakeholders, including dental service providers, interpreters, and settlement service organisations. Prior to the workshops, key findings from earlier qualitative interviews will be summarised and presented to participants. Participants will then generate ideas, discuss them, and independently rank the most important ideas. Quantitative ranking scores and qualitative discussion data will be analysed to identify the most important priorities.

RESULTS

The primary outcome of the NGT workshops will be a list of the highest-ranked oral health needs and strategies for improving access to oral health information and dental care for Karen refugee families in Victoria.

CONCLUSIONS

This protocol outlines a structured, participatory approach for identifying stakeholder-informed priorities to guide oral health promotion initiatives.

PATIENT AND PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT: Karen refugee parents were actively involved in shaping this study through earlier qualitative interviews that informed the research focus. They will further contribute to the study through participation in the NGT workshops and co-design sessions to identify priorities and collaboratively develop the intervention. Their lived experiences will inform both the design and interpretation of the study outputs to ensure cultural relevance and practical applicability.