Adolescent patients' treatment motivation and satisfaction with orthodontic treatment. Do possible selves matter?

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether adolescents' satisfaction with orthodontic treatment outcomes is correlated with the degree to which (1) the adolescents focused on and (2) were energized by imagining their posttreatment possible selves before the treatment, and whether parents' assessments of their children's pretreatment motivation would correlate with their children's posttreatment satisfaction.

METHODS

Data were collected from 75 former adolescent orthodontic patients (28 male, 47 female; 60 European American, 14 other) and from 72 parents (59 female, 12 male, 1 missing) with mailed questionnaires. Satisfaction with the treatment outcome was assessed with a revised version of Kiyak's Post-Surgical Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire.

RESULTS

The more the patients had focused on the posttreatment esthetics and functioning and the more they were energized by thinking about their posttreatment possible selves before the treatment, the more satisfied they were with the outcomes (r = .337, P = .004; r = .231, P = .053; r = .465, P < .001). The more the parents believed that their children were energized by thinking about posttreatment possible selves, the more satisfied the parents were with the outcomes (r = .326, P = .007).

CONCLUSIONS

Increasing adolescents' possible self considerations before orthodontic treatment is likely to increase their own and their parents' posttreatment satisfaction.