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. 2020 Jun;128(3):226-232.
doi: 10.1111/eos.12700. Epub 2020 May 12.

Effectiveness of a short web-based film targeting parental oral health knowledge in a well-child care setting

Deborah Ashley Verlinden  1   2 , Annemarie A Schuller  1   2 , Gijsbert H W Verrips  1   2 , Sijmen A Reijneveld  2   3
Affiliations

Effectiveness of a short web-based film targeting parental oral health knowledge in a well-child care setting

Deborah Ashley Verlinden et al. Eur J Oral Sci. 2020 Jun.

Abstract

Young children rely on their parents with respect to oral health routines. However, parental knowledge on this topic is often insufficient. Well-child care may be an excellent route to reach parents because almost all of them attend. To evaluate the effectiveness of an 8.5 min web-based film about oral health, provided by well-child care, a non-blinded quasi-experimental study was performed. Parents attending well-child care clinics in the Netherlands were assigned to an intervention (n = 88) or control group (n = 41). The control group received care as usual. We measured parental knowledge of oral health with a questionnaire (range of scores 1-12) before and directly after the intervention, and 6 months later, and assessed differences between the intervention and the control group. Parental oral health knowledge improved after watching the film: the intervention group's mean score of 11.1 (SD 1.3) was greater than the mean score of 7.1 (SD 2.0) of the control group (Cohen's d = 2.64). Scores remained higher in the intervention group 6 months after watching the film (mean 9.1, SD 1.3) than before (Cohen's d = 1.25). A web-based educational film delivered in a well-child care setting can be an effective way to address oral health and to improve parental knowledge.

Keywords: child care; mass media; oral health; parents.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart of participants. The control group was restricted to those parents who watched the film after they filled in the questionnaire, to select the parents who were similarly motivated to watch the film as in the intervention group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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