Avaliação da satisfação com o tratamento ortodôntico utilizando um instrumento condição específica

Abstract

To date, few studies assessing satisfaction with orthodontic treatment have been found and these studies used generic satisfaction questionnaires, which may not be adequately responsive to the assessment of a specific condition. Furthermore, such questionnaires were not validated, posing doubts on the reliability of the studies carried out. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the satisfaction of parents/caregivers of individuals aged between 6 and 17 years regarding the orthodontic treatment received by their children/adolescents using a specific condition instrument. The Human Research Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Minas Gerais approved this study (58735122.9.0000.5149). The sample consisted of 68 parents/caregivers of children/adolescents who had undergone orthodontic treatment in clinics offering orthodontic care. To be included, parents/caregivers should be native Portuguese speakers. Children/adolescents, to participate in the study, should not have craniofacial anomalies or cognitive disorders. To assess satisfaction, a questionnaire validated in Brazil, consisting of 25 questions distributed across 3 subscales, was used. The first subscale contains 13 items to assess satisfaction with the treatment process and the second subscale contains 7 items that measure the psychosocial effect of the treatment. The third subscale has 5 items evaluating the general result of the treatment. Each item has 5 response options according to the Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5; 1=totally disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neither agree nor disagree, 4=agree, and 5=totally agree. The higher the score, the greater the parent’s/caregiver's satisfaction with the orthodontic treatment received by their child/adolescent. The following variables were also collected: sex of participants, family income, number of people in the family, education of the parent/ caregiver, type, time, and time of completion of treatment, and severity of the malocclusion. Statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS, version 22.0, IBM Inc., Armonk, USA). Descriptive analysis was carried out for the sociodemographic and clinical variables of the sample. Four Poisson regression models were constructed to evaluate the factors associated with the satisfaction of parents/caregivers regarding the orthodontic treatment of children/adolescents. The results were provided as odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). The mean age was 12.84 (±2.96) years. Parents/caregivers from families with ≥4 people had a lower satisfaction score for the procedures during treatment subscale than parents/caregivers from families with ≤3 people (p<0.016). Parents/caregivers of children/adolescents who had undergone corrective treatment had a higher satisfaction score for the psychological effects of treatment and treatment results subscales and for the total score of the questionnaire than parents/caregivers of children/adolescents who had undergone interceptive/corrective treatment (p<0.05). Parents/caregivers of children/adolescents with more severe malocclusion also had a higher score on the treatment results subscale (p=0.010). One can conclude that the number of people in the family, type of treatment, and malocclusion are associated with the satisfaction of parents/caregivers regarding the orthodontic treatment received by children/adolescents.