Experience of primary caregivers in utilising an mHealth application for remote dental screening in preschool children
Somayyeh Azimi
A * , Chrishan Fernando B , Mohamed Estai A C , Jilen Patel D , Desiree Silva E F G and Marc Tennant A H
A School of Human Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
B School of Nursing and Midwifery, Curtin University, Building 405, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia.
C The Australian e-Health Research Centre, CSIRO, Kensington, WA, Australia.
D Dental School, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA, Australia.
E Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA, Australia.
F Joondalup Health Campus, Joondalup, WA, Australia.
G Medical School, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
H School of Allied Health, University of Western Australia, Crawley, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
Australian Health Review 47(5) 545-552 https://doi.org/10.1071/AH23110
Submitted: 1 June 2023 Accepted: 28 July 2023 Published: 15 August 2023
Abstract
This study aimed to address the acceptance of mHealth applications for a dental screening app that facilitates patient information entry and captures dental photos remotely to assist in caries diagnosis in preschool children in Australia.
All participants were recruited through the ORIGINS Project, a community-based interventional birth cohort study in Western Australia. Forty-two primary caregivers, who were the users of a teledental screening app, were given a questionnaire with 17 questions; these were constructed based on the theme of the Technology Acceptance Model: perceived ease of use (PE), perceived usefulness (PU), behavioural intention to adopt (BI), anxiety (ANX), attitude toward a behaviour (ATB), and self-efficacy (SE). Cronbach’s alpha was estimated to determine internal consistency. Path analysis was employed to quantify the relationship between each theme.
The mean values for most themes indicated high satisfaction with the intervention among caregivers (scores out of 5): PE (4.54 ± 0.55), PU (4.65 ± 0.49), BI (4.40 ± 0.65), ATB (4.23 ± 0.70), SE (4.36 ± 0.64). Results indicated high consistency in response in the PE, PU, ATB, and SE (α = 0.74–0.84) and moderate consistency was observed in ANX and BI (α = 0.50–0.62). The overall intention of using the dental screening app was significantly related to both PU and ATB (P < 0.05); in addition, the SE and PE also positively affected the PU.
The perceived usefulness and attitude toward behaviours influenced the overall behavioural intention of the participants to use the telehealth model in dental screening. Recognising these relationships indicates community readiness for implementing the telehealth application in the dental program and enables identification of areas for improving its diffusion.
Keywords: child, delivery of health care, dental, dental caries, dental photography, smartphone, technology, telemedicine, the ORIGINS Project.
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