Table 1

Trial aims, objectives and measures

Aim: Establish a model for feasible, replicable and affordable child oral health promotion for culturally diverse LGAs in Australia
Objectives—assessment of effectiveness	Measures
1a. Assess the impact of the intervention on frequency of child tooth brushing	Child dental examination ▸ Debris index (plaque status) ▸ Modified gingival index (gingival health) Parent Questionnaire ▸ How often are the child's teeth/mouth cleaned?
1b. Assess the impact of the intervention on parent's knowledge of child oral hygiene needs	Parent questionnaire ▸ In your opinion, when should parents first start cleaning their child's teeth? ▸ Has anyone ever shown you how to clean/brush this child's teeth/mouth? ▸ Fluoride in drinking water helps prevent tooth decay. ▸ If my child has a problem with his/her teeth I know what to do. ▸ Do you think using a bottle in bed causes tooth decay in children?
Objectives—process evaluation
2a. Determine the costs of the intervention	Measured by records of resources invested in the intervention by participating organisations
2b. Identify facilitators and barriers to implementing both components of the intervention	Project documentation, formal reflexive practice discussions and observation activities, and focus group discussions with cultural partner organisations CORe staff survey
2c. Assess intervention, fidelity, dose and reach	Project documentation, focus groups and interviews, researcher observations CORe staff survey and document review
Objectives—descriptive analyses
3a. Measure change in child oral health over time for target cultural groups	Child dental examination ▸ ICDAS II (dental caries status) ▸ Care index (calculated at analysis not in examination and is the proportion of decayed, missing and filled teeth (dmft) that have been treated restoratively) Parent questionnaire How would you rate the oral health of this child?
3b. Measure change in child and parent oral health-related behaviours over time for target cultural groups	Parent questionnaire ▸ In a usual week, how often does your child have the following drink (multiple options provided) In a usual week, how often does your child have the following foods: (multiple options provided) Do you add sugar or sweet flavourings to your child's (a) food and (b) drinks? ▸ Who usually cleans/brushes this child's teeth/mouth? ▸ What do you use to clean your child's teeth/mouth? ▸ What type of toothpaste do you usually use to brush this child's teeth?
3c. Measure change in parent/care-giver oral health-related knowledge, confidence and attitudes over time for target cultural groups	Parent Questionnaire ▸ How confident do you feel cleaning this child's teeth? ▸ I can look after my child's oral health well ▸ I can easily get good advice about my child's oral health if I need to ▸ Do you think any of the following cause tooth decay in children? (multiple options provided) ▸ In your opinion, when should parents first start cleaning their child's teeth? (multiple options provided)
4a. Assess access to dental and other services over time for target cultural groups	MCHS service use reports Parent questionnaire ▸ Has your child ever visited a dentist? ▸ Where was your child's last dental visit? ▸ How long since you last saw a dentist? ▸ Where was your last dental visit?
4b. Assess change in cultural competency of local health and dental services over time	Measured by CORe follow-up staff survey and document review

CORe, Cultural Competency Organisational Review; ICDAS, International Caries Detection and Assessment System; LGA, local government area; MCHS, Merri Community Health Services.