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The behaviour of preschool children receiving fluoride varnish application in a community setting
Y Zhou1, G M Forbes, G M Humphris
1School of Medicine, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9TF, Scotland.
Insights
Preschool children undergoing fluoride varnish application showed more nonverbal agreement than disruptive behaviors. Younger children and those initially anxious exhibited more interaction with instruments and disruptive behaviors, respectively.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Dentistry
- Child Psychology
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Limited research exists on young children's behavior during minimally invasive dental procedures in community settings.
- Understanding behavior is crucial for effective preventive oral health interventions in preschool populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To document the behavioral profile of preschool children during fluoride varnish application.
- To investigate how previous experience, age, and initial anxiety influence child behavior during the procedure.
Main Methods:
- Video recordings of nurse-child interactions during fluoride varnish application.
- Behavioral analysis using a specialized coding scheme (SABICS) to measure behavior frequency.
- Statistical analysis using non-parametric tests to compare behavioral differences between groups.
Main Results:
- Nonverbal agreement was the most frequent behavior observed, outnumbering disruptive behaviors.
- Younger preschool children were more likely to interact with instruments than older children, irrespective of prior experience.
- Children with initial anxiety displayed more disruptive behaviors later in the procedure compared to non-anxious children.
Conclusions:
- Encouragement-based strategies and using procedure instruments can promote cooperative behaviors in young children.
- Early child behavior during dental procedures predicts later behavior, indicating an autocorrelation effect.
- Findings support tailored approaches for managing preschooler behavior during preventive dental interventions.
Background:
The behaviour of young children receiving mildly invasive dental preventive procedures in a community setting warrants more extensive research due to limitations in the literature.Objectives To document the behavioural profile of preschool children undergoing a preventive oral health intervention (fluoride varnish application) and to investigate this behaviour across children with different previous experience of the procedure, ages and initial anxiety states.
Method:
Nurse-child interactions were video recorded and child behaviours coded and analysed using a specially developed coding scheme (SABICS). Behaviour frequency was measured and presented diagrammatically, followed by independent sample non-parametric tests to distinguish behavioural group differences.
Results:
Three hundred and three interactions were coded out of 456 recorded application sessions. 'Nonverbal agreement' behaviour was observed most frequently compared to disruptive behaviours. Younger preschool children tended to exhibit 'interact with instrument' behaviour more frequently than older children regardless of whether they had had previous application experience. Children who showed signs of initial anxiety were likely to display more disruptive behaviours during the later stage of the procedure compared with non-anxious children.
Conclusions:
Dental staff working with preschool children are recommended to use encouragement-centred strategies to promote nonverbal cooperative behaviours in children. In addition, procedure instruments could be considered as a tool to gain child cooperation. Evidence of an autocorrelation effect of child behaviour was found, indicating that the early presentation of child behaviour predicted the behaviour of the child at later stages.
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