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. 2023 Aug 14:11:e15289.
doi: 10.7717/peerj.15289. eCollection 2023.

Parent perceptions regarding virtual pediatric dental clinics during COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study

Sara Ayid Alghamdi  1
Affiliations

Parent perceptions regarding virtual pediatric dental clinics during COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study

Sara Ayid Alghamdi. PeerJ. .

Abstract

Objective: To assess the attitudes and responses of parents of pediatric patients towards virtual dental clinics during COVID-19.

Material and method: A total of 102 parents of pediatric patients who were scheduled for virtual (video or telephonic) clinic appointments for new patient consultations and follow-up clinics were included in the study. Parents and patients could attend the virtual clinic from a personal computer, tablet, or smartphone. An electronic self-administered questionnaire was sent to the parents through email after consultation (video or telephonic) which consisted of demographic data and a ten-item, five-point Likert-scale assessing: (i) parent satisfaction; (ii) ease of use; (iii) the effectiveness including increasing access to clinical services; (iv) reliability of the teledentistry system and (v) usefulness for patients. Statistical analyses used were t-test, one-way ANOVA test, Shapiro-Wilk and histogram.

Result: Out of 102 parents, 52 attended video clinics and 50 attended the telephonic clinic. The majority of the parents were between 30-39 years of age, and about 73% had no previous experience with either virtual or telephonic consultation. Ninety-four percent of parents were satisfied with vide clinic consultation, and most of them agreed that accessing clinical services through a video clinic was easy to understand, comfortable, and time-saving. The majority of the parents (94%) agreed and strongly agreed that they will use video clinics again in the future for consultation.

Conclusion: Parents' response to the use of virtual clinics for pediatric dentistry during COVID was positive. The majority of the parents stated that they would consider using teledentistry for future consultation.

Keywords: COVID-19; Children; Pediatric dentistry; Teledentistry; Telehealth.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Previous experience of the video clinic and telephonic clinic among participants.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Details of video clinic survey among the participants.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Details of telephonic clinic survey among the participants.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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