This protocol is a randomized clinical trial. The final goal is to investigate the effect of educational intervention based on self-efficacy theory on the promotion of behaviors related to the oral health of adolescents through a mobile application. To achieve this goal, different steps will be taken (Table 1). This study consists of two main phases: The first phase: is a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study to determine the current situation and educational needs assessment regarding behaviors related to oral health in qualified people. The needs assessment will be evaluated using the standard questionnaire for measuring awareness, attitude and performance [29] of adolescents about oral health and another the standard questionnaire for measuring self-efficacy [30,31] about oral health. The statistical population of Shoushtar schools and the target group are students 13–15-year-old. The sampling method is simple random sampling, which is estimated according to Cochran's formula with a 10% drop in the sample size of 391 people; In this way, 6 urban schools are randomly selected and from each school, according to the statistics of students and the total required sample, a certain number of students will be randomly entered into the descriptive study through their student numbers.
The second phase of the study includes the design and implementation of an educational intervention based on the theory of self-efficacy on the promotion of behaviors related to the oral health of adolescents through a mobile application (Fig. 2).
Table 1: The study overview
Methods
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Aim
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Phases and participants
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Online design of the standard questionnaire
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Step 1: Determining the current situation and educational needs assessment regarding behaviors related to oral health
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Phase 1
A descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study on adolescents
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Based on Mobile app
Based on Mobile app
Questionnaire
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Step 1: Intervention group training
Step 2: Transfer educational content to the intervention group
Step 3: Evaluate the program Identify the impact of the program on the intervention group
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Phase 2
Design
interventions
researcher
Implementation Adolescent
Intervention evaluation Adolescent
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Sampling
At this stage, a list of 27 first-secondary schools in Shoushtar city is prepared. Among the schools, girls' schools are selected and people are randomly assigned to two intervention and control groups. The intervention group receives the training program through the mobile application, while the control group does not receive any training program. Participants are evaluated at three-time points: (1) Before intervention, (2) one month and (3) three months after the intervention.
Calculating Sample Size
In the second phase of calculating the sample size based on a similar study [10] and taking into account the confidence level of 95% and the test power of 80%, the number of samples required for each group (intervention and control) according to the Pocock formula, including 10% drop in number 40 people is allocated for each of the intervention and control groups. so that 4 schools are randomly selected from among 27 city schools; The random allocation of the samples will be done to maintain the balance in the number of people assigned to the two control and test groups and to obtain the maximum power in the study, using the repeated random blocks method with blocks of 4. These repeating random blocks will be done for each floor separately. To implement this method, to maintain the randomness of the allocation of people, before starting the sampling, 6 combinations of four letters A (participant in the test group) and B (participant in the control group) are formed as follows: AABB/ ABAB/ABBA/BABA/BBAA/BAAB.
Finally, by using a six-sided dice with the numbers 1 to 6 on each side, according to the number that appears on the dice each time it is thrown, the order of assigning the participants to the test and control groups on each floor is determined independently.
Consent or assent
An informed consent form will be completed online by all study participants
Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
The criteria for entering the study include female students 13–15-year-old studying, living in Shoushtar city, not suffering from oral health diseases and underlying diseases, having a smartphone and the ability to use it, and having informed consent to participate in the study. It is a study. Regarding the exit criteria, it can be mentioned the absence of at least one of the above items.
Designing and Developing Educational Intervention Content
The educational content will be compiled after completing the first stage of the study (descriptive-analytical) and evaluating the educational needs through a questionnaire, as well as reviewing past studies related to the areas of awareness, attitude, self-efficacy and performance. The mobile application will consist of different parts (text, game, animation, etc.). The educational content used in the Application will be evaluated by experts and the target group after production. The qualitative validity of the content will be measured by a group of 5-10 experts in the field of health education, dentists and health care workers, as well as 5-10 teenagers similar to the group under study in this research.
The Questionnaire Used and the Scoring Questionnaire in This Study
The data collection tool will be included demographic information, and awareness standard questionnaires, attitude, performance and self-efficacy.
1-Demographic questions include: (age, parents' education, economic status, teeth condition, number of times brushing, flossing and dental plaque).
2- It is a standard questionnaire to measure the knowledge, attitude, and performance of teenagers about oral health. This tool has 36 questions and three areas of awareness (12 questions), attitude (10 questions), and performance (14 questions).
The first part of the questionnaire includes 12 items related to students' knowledge about oral health behaviors, which will be given a score of one for the correct option and zero for the other options. The range of awareness scores is 0-12. A higher score will indicate more awareness in this field.
The second part of the questionnaire contains 10 attitudinal items (alpha coefficient 0.82) and includes a 5-option Likert scale from completely agree (score 5) to completely disagree (score 1). The range of scores for this section is between 10-50 and a higher score will indicate a better attitude of students toward oral health. The last part of the questionnaire contains 14 performance items (alpha coefficient 0.89) which will be measured as options (yes, sometimes and no). The range of scores for this section is between 0-28, and a higher score will indicate a better performance of students regarding oral health. It should be mentioned that two questions were removed from the questions of this section due to the negative correlation between them. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were also confirmed in the study of Yavari et al [29].
3- It is a standard self-efficacy questionnaire about oral health. This tool includes 3 parts to ensure the ability to brush your teeth, use dental floss and see a dentist.
The self-efficacy questionnaire related to oral and dental hygiene has 3 parts. The first part related to brushing teeth has 10 questions, the second part related to using dental floss has 7 questions and the third part related to see the dentist also has 7 questions.
In the self-efficacy questionnaire, the student is asked to indicate how much she has the ability on a four-point Likert scale (I am completely sure = 4, I am somewhat certain = 3, I am somewhat unsure = 2 and I am not completely sure - 1). He is confident in brushing his teeth, flossing, and to see the dentist in different situations. 10 questionnaire items are related to self-efficacy in brushing teeth (10-40 points), 7 items are related to self-efficacy in flossing (7-28 points) and 7 items are related to self-efficacy in going to the dentist (7-28 points). The reliability and validity of the questionnaire have been confirmed in the study of Carranza et al. [30]. In Iran, its reliability was reported in the study of Ardakani et al. [31] with Cronbach's alpha of 0.79.
It should be noted that the reliability of the tools was also checked and confirmed in the present study (α>0.79).
Follow-up will be done at three points in time;(1) Before intervention, (2) one month and (3) three months after the intervention. According to the research ethics, at the end of the study, the educational content will be provided to the control group.
Public Participation
In this research, the general participation of participants in the descriptive stage will be used to design an educational intervention based on a mobile application and evaluate its impact on promoting preventive behaviors.
Statistical Analysis
Data Management
The obtained data are analyzed in two steps. Phase 1: Analyzing the data from a descriptive-analytical study to determine the current situation and educational needs assessment regarding behaviors related to oral health. Phase 2: Analysis of data obtained from both intervention and control groups at time points before intervention, 1 month, and 3 months after the intervention.
Data Monitoring
The quantitative data in clinical trial will be analyzed using SPSS V22. Descriptive statistics will include frequencies, means and standard deviations. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test will be used to check the normal distribution of data. Moreover, to compare the means between the two intervention and control groups, T test is used. Paired t-test will be used to compare the means in each group at two points in time, and ANOVA test will be used to compare the means in each group at three points in time. To analyze and evaluate the correlation between demographic variables, correlation tests (Pearson for parametric data and Spearman or Kendall for non-parametric data) and chi-square test will be used.
To analyze the primary outcome (behavior), the linear regression model will be used for predicting variables of awareness, attitude, self-efficacy in brushing teeth, self-efficacy in flossing and self-efficacy in going to the dentist.