Improving Adolescent-dentist Interaction Through Digital Technology

NCT ID: NCT03907514

Last Updated: 2020-02-19

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 184 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2019-04-04
• Study Completion Date: 2019-11-28

Brief Summary

The aim of the present study is to assess the impact of a digital tool on the interaction between the dentist and the adolescent patient, concerning the level of dental anxiety and communication. To achieve this purpose, a Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial will be performed using a short version of e-SAID (Survey of Anxiety and Information for Dentists) in Portuguese (FALE). That is, the intervention to be tested is an application usage, which will contain a questionnaire with questions supposedly made by the dentist, about feelings regarding the dental appointment and preferences for coping with dental treatment. Thus, the use of this digital tool aims to facilitate communication, favoring the adolescent-dentist relationship, and establishing empathy.

Detailed Description

The target population consists of patients between 10 and 19 years old, attending the Adolescent Clinic in the Dental School of the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), campus of Recife. The sample will consist of 184 adolescents, 92 in each group (intervention and control). Randomization will be stratified according to sex, age and presence or absence of dental anxiety. In the waiting room, before the dental appointment, the adolescents in the intervention group (IG) will use the FALE application to answer the questionnaire and assess the level of anxiety. Those in the control group (CG) will only record their level of anxiety. The undergraduates responsible for attending the IG participants will receive, prior to dental care, a report of the answers given by the adolescents through the application. During the dental consultation, a psychologist, who will be observing the care, will evaluate the adolescents behavior, considering cooperation. After the appointment, the adolescent will evaluate how much he/she felt benefited by the use of the app; how he evaluates the communication between him/her and the dentist; if he/she thinks that the app contributed with this communication; his/her satisfaction with dental treatment; and his/her satisfaction with the undergraduate attendance. The undergraduate will also evaluate his/her level of satisfaction with the application's use; how he/she evaluates the communication between him/her and the adolescent patient; how much the application has helped with this communication; and the degree of patient's cooperation during the dental consultation. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis will be performed using appropriate tests through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences software version 21 and significance level of 5%.

Conditions

Dental Anxiety

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: OTHER
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Intervention Group (IG)

The adolescents in this group will use the "FALE" application through a smartphone in the waiting room before the dental appointment. When starting to answer the application, the adolescent will report his/her level of dental anxiety through the question, "How do you feel about coming to see your dentist today?", and record his/her answer on a seven-point face scale. Then the participant will continue to answer the 12 other questions, and finally registers his/her anxiety level once more through the same question.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

"FALE" Application

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

"FALE" is a digital tool, in the form of an application for smartphones, which aims to demonstrate empathy and facilitate communication between the adolescent patient and the dentist. The application contains 14 questions regarding dental anxiety, feelings and patient coping preferences regarding dental care.

Control Group (CG)

Similarly to IG, the adolescents in this group will use the "FALE" application through a smartphone, but only to record their level of anxiety by answering the question "How do you feel about coming to see your dentist today?" using a seven-point face scale. Instead of continuing to answer the other questions, the application will guide him to wait for the one-minute interval (expected time to answer the questionnaire) and, once more, ask the same question regarding his/her feeling about the experience with the dentist.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

"FALE" Application

"FALE" is a digital tool, in the form of an application for smartphones, which aims to demonstrate empathy and facilitate communication between the adolescent patient and the dentist. The application contains 14 questions regarding dental anxiety, feelings and patient coping preferences regarding dental care.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Brazilian adolescents literate in Portuguese
• Brazilian adolescents able to use smartphone

Exclusion Criteria

• Adolescents with intellectual, sensory or physical disabilities
• Adolescents not capable to read and write/type

• Minimum Eligible Age: 10 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 19 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Pernambuco

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Trícia Murielly Andrade de Souza Mayer

PhD student in Pediatric Dentistry, Principal Investigator

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Viviane Colares, Professor

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

University of Pernambuco

Trícia Mayer, PhD student

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Pernambuco

Locations

Federal University of Pernambuco

Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

Countries

Brazil

References

Yee R, Jones LM, Hosey MT. What the child "SAID" to the dentist: A UK randomized controlled trial. Child Care Health Dev. 2017 Nov;43(6):926-932. doi: 10.1111/cch.12510. Epub 2017 Aug 30.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 28857237 (View on PubMed)

Jones L. Validation and randomized control trial of the e-SAID, a computerized paediatric dental patient request form, to intervene in dental anxiety. Child Care Health Dev. 2015 Jul;41(4):620-5. doi: 10.1111/cch.12200. Epub 2014 Oct 6.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 25287626 (View on PubMed)

Jones LM, Huggins TJ. The rationale and pilot study of a new paediatric dental patient request form to improve communication and outcomes of dental appointments. Child Care Health Dev. 2013 Nov;39(6):869-72. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2214.2012.01416.x. Epub 2012 Jul 30.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 22846104 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

022019

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id