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Assessing the effectiveness and acceptability of a personalised mobile phone App in improving adherence to oral hygiene advice in orthodontic patients: protocol for a feasibility study and a Randomised Controlled Trial

Sharif, M; Newton, JT; Cunningham, S; (2021) Assessing the effectiveness and acceptability of a personalised mobile phone App in improving adherence to oral hygiene advice in orthodontic patients: protocol for a feasibility study and a Randomised Controlled Trial. JMIR Research Protocols , 10 (1) , Article e18021. 10.2196/18021. Green open access

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Abstract

Background: Orthodontic treatment is a common health care intervention; treatment duration can be lengthy (2-3 years on average), and adherence to treatment advice is therefore essential for successful outcomes. It has been reported that up to 43% of patients fail to complete treatment, and there are currently no useful predictors of noncompletion. Given that the National Health Service England annual expenditure on primary-care orthodontic treatment is in excess of £200 million (US $267 million), noncompletion of treatment represents a significant inefficient use of public resources. Improving adherence to treatment is therefore essential. This necessitates behavior change, and interventions that improve adherence and are designed to elicit behavioral change must address an individual’s capability, opportunity, and motivation. Mobile phones are potentially an invaluable tool in this regard, as they are readily available and can be used in a number of ways to address an individual’s capability, opportunity, and motivation. Objective: This study will assess the effectiveness and acceptability of a personalized mobile phone app in improving adherence to orthodontic treatment advice by way of a randomized controlled trial. Methods: This study will be conducted in 2 phases at the Eastman Dental Hospital, University College London Hospitals Foundation Trust. Phase 1 is feasibility testing of the My Braces app. Participants will be asked to complete the user version of the Mobile Application Rating Scale. The app will be amended following analysis of the responses, if appropriate. Phase 2 is a randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness and acceptability of the My Braces app. Results: This study was approved by the London – Bloomsbury Research Ethics Committee on November 5, 2019 (reference 19/LO/1555). No patients have been recruited to date. The anticipated start date for recruitment to phase 1 is October 2020. Conclusions: Given the availability, affordability, and versatility of mobile phones, it is proposed that they will aid in improving adherence to treatment advice and hence improve treatment completion rates. If effective, the applicability of this methodology to developing behavior change/modification interventions and improving adherence to treatment across health care provides an exciting opportunity.

Type: Article
Title: Assessing the effectiveness and acceptability of a personalised mobile phone App in improving adherence to oral hygiene advice in orthodontic patients: protocol for a feasibility study and a Randomised Controlled Trial
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.2196/18021
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.2196/18021
Language: English
Additional information: ©Mohammad Owaise Sharif, Jonathon Timothy Newton, Susan J Cunningham. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 13.01.2021. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Research Protocols, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://www.researchprotocols.org, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
Keywords: orthodontics; adherence; smartphone apps; mobile phone apps; personalized health care; information provision
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Eastman Dental Institute
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Eastman Dental Institute > EDI Craniofacial and Development Sci
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10110056
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