Peer-reviewed article
Communication strategies to encourage child participation in an oral health promotion session: An exemplar video observational study
Siyang Yuan, Gerry M. Humphris, Lorna M. D. Macpherson, Alastair J Ross, Ruth Freeman ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how dental nurses and parents communicate with young children during oral health promotion sessions in a dental clinic in Scotland. Researchers video-recorded 22 children aged 2-5 years and analysed the interactions between the child, parent, and dental nurse using a coding system. The findings show that children's participation depended significantly on encouragement from both the nurse and parent, with parental support being especially important in strengthening the nurse's influence on the child's engagement.
Key points
- Children's participation rates varied significantly, with older children and longer consultations associated with higher participation
- The statistical model explained 28% of the variance in child participation
- Both nurse and parental behaviour had immediate effects on whether children participated
- Parental facilitation had a strong moderating effect on the dental nurse's influence on child participation
- The study demonstrates a triadic communication process involving child, parent, and dental professional
Limitations
This was a small observational study with one dental nurse and 22 children in one Scottish practice, so findings may not generalise to other settings or dental professionals. The study does not establish causation or test specific interventions to improve participation.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The oral health promotion sessions for young children and parents in a clinical setting pose challenges to the dental team. AIM: To apply PaeD-TrICS (Paediatric dental triadic interaction coding scheme) to investigate the interaction of child, parent and dental nurse and determine the effect of nurse and parental behaviours on child participation within an oral health promotion session. METHOD: A video observational study was applied. The sample consisted of a dental nurse and 22 children aged 2-5 years in a general dental practice in Scotland. Behaviours were catalogued with time stamps using PaeD-TrICS. Analysis of behavioural sequences with child participation as the dependent variable was conducted using multilevel modelling. RESULTS: Children varied significantly in their participation rate. The statistical model explained 28% of the variance. The older the child and longer consultations significantly increased child participation. Both nurse and parental behaviour had immediate influence on child participation. Parental facilitation had a strong moderating effect on the influence of the nurse on child participation. CONCLUSIONS: Child participation was dependent on nurse and parent encouragement signalling an important triadic communication process. The coding scheme and analysis illustrates an important tool to investigate these advisory sessions designed for delivering tailored messages to young children and parents. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: The dental staff, child patients and their parents were involved closely in the conduct and procedures of the present study.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Application of PaeD-TrICS (Paediatric dental triadic interaction coding scheme) to analyse and understand the communication strategies used by dental nurses and parents to encourage child participation
- Population
- 22 children aged 2-5 years attending an oral health promotion session with a dental nurse and their parent in a general dental practice in Scotland
Key finding
Older children and longer consultations significantly increased child participation