Dental professionals’ views on motivational interviewing for the prevention of dental caries with adolescents in central Norway

Abstract

Background Establishing positive oral health behaviours during adolescence should be a key priority to improve lifelong oral health. However, changing adolescent behaviours is known to be a challenge. Motivational interviewing (MI) is a method of working with patients to activate their motivation for change and has shown promising results within the dental setting. Yet, little is known about the actual experiences and perspectives of Norwegian dental health professionals in delivering motivational interviewing as part of routine care to their young patients. The overall aim of the present study was to explore the implementation of motivational interviewing by dentists and dental hygienists, employed by the Norwegian Public Dental Service, for their adolescent patients. Methods As part of the larger #Care4YoungTeeth <3 project, a Norwegian Research Council funded four-year Collaborative Project to Meet Societal and Industry-related Challenges, an online survey was developed and administered to dental personnel (n = 168) in one region of Central Norway. Data were analysed by descriptive statistics and two-sample tests of proportions at the 95% confidence level. Results A total of 98 dental personnel responded to the survey (response rate 58.3%), of which 37 were dental hygienists (response rate 72.5%) and 61 were dentists (response rate 52.1%). A greater proportion of hygienists reported implementing this intervention compared to dentists (78.4% versus 50.8%; p = 0.007). Similarly, a greater proportion of hygienists (83.8%) stated that they had received training in MI compared to dentists (65.6%; p = 0.051). About 80% of dentists and 90% of dental hygienists felt that they understood the principles of MI. However, only about 45% and 60%, respectively, felt confident in its use. Dental hygienists found MI more usable in their work (p = 0.052), to a greater extent want to use MI (p = 0.002) and found that using MI works well (p < 0.001), as compared to dentists. Conclusions A high proportion of dental professionals working within a Norwegian public dental service have received training in MI. However, barriers to implementation for adolescent patients and differences in practice between dentists and hygienists warrant further enquiry.

Investigating hope in oral health promotion for adolescents: an exploratory study based on observations at the dental clinic

“…Motivational interviewing and hope share similarities in expressing empathy, fostering agency, and promoting resilience. Considering that only about half of the dental professionals who received MI training are confident in using it ( 51 ), hope might provide a structured framework for dental professionals. Our results suggest that elements of hope are already present in dental professionals' approaches to managing adolescent care, potentially strengthening the idea that hope is a relevant construct.…”

“…They performed the consultation with the adolescent as they usually do since we were interested in observing the usual interaction between dental personnel and adolescent (we are aware of the possibility of altered behavior when being observed); this means that the dental personnel did not receive any training or guidance on how and what to ask in this specific visit. However, most dental personnel in Norway received training in communication with adolescents and other patients [for instance, motivational interviewing (MI)] as part of their education or post-education training ( 51 ).…”