Ab Mumin Nazirah, Yusof Zamros Yuzadi Mohd, Marhazlinda Jamaludin, Obaidellah Unaizah
Department of Periodontology and Community Oral Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Department of Community Oral Health and Clinical Prevention, Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Malaya (UM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Digit Health. 2022 Jul 21;8:20552076221114190. doi: 10.1177/20552076221114190. eCollection 2022 Jan-Dec.
Developing health-related smartphone applications for oral health education should consider the end-user's perspectives to ensure they will be usable. This study aimed to explore the opinions of secondary school students in Selangor, Malaysia regarding the use of a smartphone application for oral health education and to identify the features for an oral health education smartphone application from the perspectives of adolescents. Focus group discussions were conducted among Form Two (14-year-old) and Form Four (16-year-old) students from selected government secondary schools in Selangor utilising a semi-structured topic guide until data saturation was achieved. Data were analysed using framework analysis. Ten focus group discussions were conducted involving 77 participants. Mixed opinions were recorded on the use of health-related smartphone applications for oral health education. The preferred features in a health-related smartphone application are disease detection, have games and rewards, educational and fun, access to a dentist, reminders, and user-friendliness. Adolescents are aware of the positive aspect of using health-related smartphone applications for oral health education; however, they are wary of the need to install one. Nevertheless, identifying adolescents' preferred features of an oral health education app is the first step in developing an application tailored to their needs. Smartphone application could be a timely strategy to improve oral health education delivery and behaviour improvement for this age group.
开发用于口腔健康教育的健康相关智能手机应用程序时，应考虑最终用户的观点，以确保其可用性。本研究旨在探讨马来西亚雪兰莪州中学生对使用智能手机应用程序进行口腔健康教育的看法，并从青少年的角度确定口腔健康教育智能手机应用程序的功能。利用半结构化主题指南，对雪兰莪州选定政府中学的中二（14岁）和中四（16岁）学生进行了焦点小组讨论，直至达到数据饱和。使用框架分析法对数据进行分析。共进行了10次焦点小组讨论，涉及77名参与者。对于使用健康相关智能手机应用程序进行口腔健康教育，记录了不同的意见。健康相关智能手机应用程序中首选的功能是疾病检测、有游戏和奖励、具有教育性和趣味性、可联系牙医、有提醒功能以及用户友好性。青少年意识到使用健康相关智能手机应用程序进行口腔健康教育的积极方面；然而，他们对安装此类应用程序有所顾虑。尽管如此，确定青少年对口腔健康教育应用程序的首选功能是开发满足其需求的应用程序的第一步。智能手机应用程序可能是改善该年龄组口腔健康教育传递和行为改善的适时策略。
