Anticipatory anxiety in children visiting the dentist: lack of effect of preparatory information

作者：Olumide Funmi; Newton J Tim^*; Dunne Stephen; Gilbert David B

来源：International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry, 2009, 19(5): 338-342.

DOI：10.1111/j.1365-263X.2009.00980.x

Aim.
This study sought to explore whether viewing a leaflet explaining the benefits of dental treatment would have a significant impact on children's anticipatory anxiety.
Method.
Fifty children aged 8-12, attending the paediatric dental clinic of King's College Hospital, London, took part in this triple-masked, randomized control study. The participants were randomly allocated to one of two groups and either shown an intervention leaflet containing child-friendly dental information (the experimental group) or a leaflet with child-friendly information on the benefits of healthy eating (the control group). Using the Facial Image Scale, anxiety was measured when the children arrived for their dental appointment, once before reading the leaflet and again after reading the leaflet.
Results.
There was no statistically significant effect of the experimental leaflet on self-reported anxiety levels in this study, although anxiety levels did drop slightly in both groups after reading a leaflet.
Conclusions.
Providing paediatric patients with preparatory information about what to expect from a visit to the dentist had no effect on anticipatory anxiety in comparison to reading a leaflet about healthy eating. We speculate that reading, or cognitive processing, may have some beneficial effect. Future work should investigate this possibility.

• 出版日期2009-9