A mixed methods approach to obtaining health care provider feedback for the development of a Canadian pediatric dental caries risk assessment tool for children <6 years

INTRODUCTION: Early childhood caries (ECC) is a chronic but preventable disease affecting young children worldwide. Many young children face access to care barriers to early preventive dental visits for a variety of reasons, which can increase their risk for ECC. Non-dental primary health care providers are well positioned to assist in assessing a child's risk for ECC by performing caries risk assessment (CRA). The purpose of this project was to report on primary health care provider and stakeholder feedback in order to refine a drafted CRA tool for Canadian children <6 years of age intended for use by non-dental primary health care providers. METHODS: In this mixed methods project, we conducted six focus groups with primarily non-dental primary health care providers followed by a short paper-based survey to quantify preferences and feedback. Data were thematically and descriptively analyzed. RESULTS: Participants’ feedback on the drafted CRA tool included the need for it to be relatively quick to complete, easy and practical to score, easy to implement into practitioners’ clinic schedules, and to include anticipatory guidance information to share with parents and caregivers. All participants (100%) welcomed a CRA tool. Many (85.4%) liked a layout that could be added to tools they already utilize. Most (73.2%) wanted the tool to be in colour, and many (90.2%) wanted the tool to include pictures. CONCLUSION: Non-dental primary health care providers informed the final development and layout of the newly released Canadian CRA tool. Their feedback resulted in a user-friendly CRA tool with provider-patient dynamics and preferences.