Oral literacy demand in the pediatric dental clinic: a pilot study

Background The parent's ability to obtain, process, and understand important oral health information (i.e., their oral health literacy) is directly related to their child's oral health status. Aim To assess the relationship between oral literacy demands placed on parents by dentists and pa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of paediatric dentistry 2017-09, Vol.27 (5), p.326-333
Main Authors: Benadof, Dafna, Hajishengallis, Evlambia, Cole, Amanda, Vidal, Carolina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Caregivers
Child
Children
Communication
Comprehension
Dental Care for Children
Dental Clinics
Dentistry
Dentists
Dentists - psychology
Female
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Health Literacy
Humans
Language
Male
Oral Health
Oral hygiene
Parents & parenting
Parents - psychology
Pediatrics
Pilot Projects
Statistical analysis
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Summary:Background The parent's ability to obtain, process, and understand important oral health information (i.e., their oral health literacy) is directly related to their child's oral health status. Aim To assess the relationship between oral literacy demands placed on parents by dentists and parents’ understanding of dental information given to them. Design Thirty‐one consenting primary caregivers of children attending their first dental visit completed a demographic survey, a REALD‐30 test, and a survey to test understanding of dental information. Dental appointments, performed by eight pediatric dental residents, were audio‐recorded and transcribed for qualitative analysis and descriptive statistics. Results Factors associated with language complexity were significantly higher in dental residents (R) than participants (P), that is, total number of words spoken (R: 1615.09 + 859.91 vs P: 480.68 + 232.034) and words per sentence (R: 8.82 + 1.74 vs P: 4.91 + 1.71). Speaking turns did not differ between resident and parent (R: 94.64 vs P: 83.27). Conclusions Although the dialogue between the participating dentists and parents was highly unequal, parents understood about 86% of the information provided by the resident. Future studies are needed to identify factors associated with gaps in the educational process of parents in the dental setting.
ISSN:0960-7439
1365-263X
DOI:10.1111/ipd.12265