Clinical trial NCT06369038: Children's Drawing as a Projective Tool to Assess Dental Anxiety
Official title: Assessment of Dental Anxiety After Children's Drawing as a Projective Tool During Dental Extraction Under Local Anesthesia - A Diagnostic Accuracy Test Study.
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
Conditions: Dental Anxiety
Keywords: dental anxiety
drawing
projective tool
Lead sponsor: Cairo University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2024-04-16
Enrollment: 138
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 6
Maximum age (years): 12
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Observational model: OTHER
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: children with previous dental experience aging from 6 to 12 years and have one or more teeth indicated for simple extraction.

Brief summary: The aim in this study is to compare the results of anxiety measurement of the child using the CD:H scale with the long-used Face,Legs,Activity,Cry and Consolability scale (FLACC scale) , Frankl behaviour rating scale and pulse oximeter reading, to see if the drawing alone can be a reliable tool to predict the child's behaviour before the dental procedure.

Detailed description: Dental anxiety is one of the major problems facing us in pediatric dentistry, the new experience that the child has to go through together with the difficulty for the child to express his exact cause of fear increases the problem.

Research has shown that healthcare providers spend more time communicating with parents than pediatric patients. In a typical medical care visit, less than 20% of the communication engaged pediatric patients, regardless of age. Most decision-making and treatment planning are done by dentists and parents.

Even when the dentist tries to engage the child in the conversation it usually includes the social aspect "his favourite hobby, toys, school topics, etc..." rather than the medical history or treatment decisions so the child is unaccustomed to discussing his dental fears and complaints to the dentist, hence we lose a lot of the child\&#39;s trust.

Drawing has been used in literature as a psychological method to express one\&#39;s thoughts and fears and can be analyzed by the healthcare provider to know the deeper thoughts of the child.

Thus, the current study aims to deeply understand the children\&#39;s point of view towards dental treatment and use the drawings as a projective tool to assess the dental anxiety in those children by simple index and defined scores that every dentist could learn and apply.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Children aged from 6 to 12 years.
* Children with past dental experience.
* One or more primary teeth indicated for simple extraction procedure.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patients lacking cooperative behavior (very young age and patients with certain medical or psychological disorders) according to Wright's classification.
* Refusal of participation.
* Lack of informed consent by the child's parents.
* If the child shows any signs of disinterest in drawing.

Primary outcomes:
measure: FLAAC behavioral scale
timeFrame: 6 months
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
Study officials:
affiliation: Cairo University
name: Weam S Ayoub, MsC
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Cianetti S, Lombardo G, Lupatelli E, Pagano S, Abraha I, Montedori A, Caruso S, Gatto R, De Giorgio S, Salvato R. Dental fear/anxiety among children and adolescents. A systematic review. Eur J Paediatr Dent. 2017 Jun;18(2):121-130. doi: 10.23804/ejpd.2017.18.02.07.
citation: Facco E, Zanette G, Favero L, Bacci C, Sivolella S, Cavallin F, Manani G. Toward the validation of visual analogue scale for anxiety. Anesth Prog. 2011 Spring;58(1):8-13. doi: 10.2344/0003-3006-58.1.8.
citation: Clatworthy S, Simon K, Tiedeman ME. Child drawing: hospital--an instrument designed to measure the emotional status of hospitalized school-aged children. J Pediatr Nurs. 1999 Feb;14(1):2-9. doi: 10.1016/S0882-5963(99)80054-2.
citation: Voepel-Lewis T, Zanotti J, Dammeyer JA, Merkel S. Reliability and validity of the face, legs, activity, cry, consolability behavioral tool in assessing acute pain in critically ill patients. Am J Crit Care. 2010 Jan;19(1):55-61; quiz 62. doi: 10.4037/ajcc2010624.