User requirement gathering for online oral health education module development: Exploring parental perspective

Dental caries is preventable, yet it remains a common childhood disease. As children are dependent on their parents for oral health care, oral health education for parents is essential to ensure they understand the risk factors and consequences of dental caries and their role in its prevention. This study aims to explore parents' oral health education needs to enable the development and provision of a tailored online oral health education module.

Online focus group discussions were conducted among Malaysian parents to gather information about the content, layout and presentation of oral health information parents sought for the provision of oral health care for their children. Video recordings were transcribed verbatim and thematic analysis was performed using an inductive approach.

In total, 24 parents participated in the discussions and 4 main themes were uncovered. The first theme was perceived information needs related to dental caries, oral health care and the importance of deciduous teeth. The second theme was parents' preferred information resources which were social media, dentists, mobile phone applications and medical personnel. Thirdly, information delivery format and specific characteristics were recommended. The final theme was challenges and barriers faced in maintaining oral health due to parental constraints, child behaviour and external factors.

Parents' profound feedback and experiential standpoint stipulate the need for the development and delivery of a comprehensible and visually engaging oral health education module by healthcare professionals via social media to enable access to evidence-based information consistently.