Illustrated information for parent education: parent and patient responses

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of using illustrations, when educating parents about their child's upcoming operative appointment, on parents' and child patients' responses to the treatment.

Data were collected from 189 parents of 4- to 10-year-old pediatric dental patients who needed operative treatment. The parents received information about their child's upcoming operative visit either verbally or with the support of standardized illustrations (flip chart), and/or individualized drawings. Parents and providers responded to surveys following the operative appointments.

Verbally informed parents were more likely to (a) miss the operative appointment (47% vs 19%/16%/10%; P<.001) and (b) remain in the operatory during treatment (47% vs 18%/26%/19%; P<.01) than parents who received standardized illustrations, individualized illustrations, or both illustrations. The patients whose parents had received verbal information behaved more negatively than the children whose parents had received illustrative information. Overall, Frankl behavior ratings ranged from 1="definitely negative" to 4="definitely positive" (3.30 vs 3.54; P=.04).

Educating parents about the basic disease process of dental caries with the aid of illustrations increased parents' cooperation with the recommended dental treatment for their children and improved their children's behavior during the treatment.