Yee R, Jones L M, Hosey M T
Dental Service, KK Women's & Children's Hospital, Singapore.
Paediatric Dentistry, Population & Patient Health Division, King's College London Dental Institute, London, UK.
Child Care Health Dev. 2017 Nov;43(6):926-932. doi: 10.1111/cch.12510. Epub 2017 Aug 30.
The electronic Survey of Anxiety and Information for Dentists (eSAID) allows children to tell dentists about their feelings and coping preferences. It is a computer "quiz" with 26 questions and free-text responses that produces a report for the children that they can then hand to their dentist. This is the first study to report the use of eSAID in a hospital paediatric dental clinic.
This was a randomized controlled trial to evaluate whether children thought that eSAID benefitted them, made them less anxious, and improved cooperation and their treatment satisfaction. Fifty-one children aged 8-13 years were randomized to complete either eSAID or a control version in the waiting room before their scheduled dental appointment. The study group had a 26-item questionnaire; the control had only two items. Both groups scored their anxiety on a 7-point anxiety scale at the start and again at the end of the quiz. All subjects handed the resultant eSAID report as a printout to their dentist. Dental treatment proceeded as planned. After treatment, each child reported how they thought the eSAID quiz had benefitted them by scoring on a 10 cm Visual Analogue Scale and their satisfaction on the Modified Treatment Evaluation Inventory. The operating dentists scored the children's cooperation using a 10 cm Visual Analogue Scale.
Overall, the baseline anxiety levels were low (study: mean 1.2; control: mean 1.5). The study group's post-survey anxiety reduced by 0.4, whereas controls' increased by 0.2; this difference is statistically significant (p = .04). However, it made no difference to the children's self-reported benefit (p = .30), satisfaction (p > .05), or cooperation (p = .34).
eSAID reduced pre-treatment anxiety but made no difference to children's perceived benefit, satisfaction, or cooperation. Future study should include known anxious children.
牙医焦虑与信息电子调查问卷（eSAID）能让儿童向牙医倾诉自己的感受及应对偏好。它是一个有26个问题及自由文本回答的电脑“测验”，会为儿童生成一份报告，然后他们可将报告交给自己的牙医。这是首项报告在医院儿科牙科诊所使用eSAID的研究。
这是一项随机对照试验，旨在评估儿童是否认为eSAID对他们有益、能减轻焦虑、改善合作及提高治疗满意度。51名8至13岁儿童在预定看牙前被随机分配在候诊室完成eSAID或对照版本。研究组有一份26项的问卷；对照组只有两项。两组在测验开始时及结束时均在7分焦虑量表上对自己的焦虑进行评分。所有受试者将生成的eSAID报告打印出来交给他们的牙医。牙科治疗按计划进行。治疗后，每个儿童通过在10厘米视觉模拟量表上评分来报告他们认为eSAID测验对自己有何益处，以及他们在改良治疗评估量表上的满意度。执行牙医使用10厘米视觉模拟量表对儿童的合作情况进行评分。
总体而言，基线焦虑水平较低（研究组：平均1.2；对照组：平均1.5）。研究组调查后的焦虑降低了0.4，而对照组增加了0.2；这种差异具有统计学意义（p = 0.04）。然而，这对儿童自我报告的益处（p = 0.30）、满意度（p > 0.05）或合作（p = 0.34）没有影响。
eSAID降低了治疗前的焦虑，但对儿童感知到的益处、满意度或合作没有影响。未来的研究应纳入已知焦虑的儿童。
