Use of an animated emoji scale as a novel tool for anxiety assessment in children
10.17245/jdapm.2019.19.4.227
- Author:
Jyothsna V SETTY
1
;
Ila SRINIVASAN
;
Sreeraksha RADHAKRISHNA
;
Anjana M MELWANI
;
Murali Krishna DR
Author Information
1. Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, M.R. Ambedkar Dental College and Hospital, Bengaluru, India. jyothsnavsetty@yahoo.com
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Anxiety Assessment;
Anxiety Scales;
Dental Anxiety;
Pediatric Dentistry
- MeSH:
Adult;
Anxiety;
Child;
Dental Anxiety;
Humans;
Motion Pictures as Topic;
Multimedia;
Pediatric Dentistry;
Weights and Measures
- From:Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
2019;19(4):227-233
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: Dental anxiety in children is a major barrier in patient management. If dental anxiety in pediatric patients is assessed during the first visit, it will not only aid in management but also help to identify patients who are in need of special care to deal with their fear. Nowadays, children and adults are highly interested in multimedia and are closely associated with them. Children usually prefer motion pictures on electronic devices than still cartoons on paper. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate a newly designed scale, the animated emoji scale (AES), which uses motion emoticons/animojis to assess dental anxiety in children during their first dental visit, and compare it with the Venham picture test (VPT) and facial image scale (FIS). METHODS: The study included 102 healthy children aged 4–14 years, whose dental anxiety was measured using AES, VPT, and FIS during their first dental visit, and their scale preference was recorded. RESULTS: The mean anxiety scores measured using AES, FIS, and VPT, represented as mean ± SD, were 1.78 ± 1.19, 1.93 ± 1.23, and 1.51 ± 1.84, respectively. There was significant difference in the mean anxiety scores between the three scales (Friedman test, P < 0.001). The Pearson's correlation test showed a very strong correlation (0.73) between AES and VPT, and a strong correlation between AES and FIS (0.88), and FIS and VPT (0.69), indicating good validity of AES. Maximum number of children (74.5%) preferred AES. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggest that the AES is a novel and child-friendly tool for assessing dental anxiety in children.
