Improving Adolescent-dentist Interaction Through Digital Technology
Condition: Dental Anxiety
Study type: Interventional

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%.
    

Intervention name(s): "FALE" Application
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): "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.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Other
Keywords: Technology Assessment, Health; Dental anxiety; Adolescent; Clinical Trial