Patient's and parent's perspectives towards orthodontic treatment-an assessment through q-methodology

Orthodontic patient's motivation and cooperation are an important factor which determines their treatment outcomes. Considering them as vital components in this study Q-methodology was used to investigate motivating factors among adolescents seeking orthodontic treatment and parents wanting their children to undergo orthodontic treatment (third person grammar). These motivating factors help to develop a set of specific motivational strategies during orthodontic treatment.

This study was divided into 2 parts: first part generated a list of reasons for seeking orthodontic treatment by taking interviews among school children and their parents. 18 items for patients and 20 items for parents were generated from these interviews. In second part, list of reasons generated from the interviews were placed in order of importance on a Q-methodology grid by 50 patients and 50 parents respectively which were made to assess and categorize the relative importance of these reasons.

For the patients, statistical analysis using Chi-Square test identified four most important factors, all of which included in esthetic concern (P-value<0.001 for overall comparison of distribution of responses on importance of factors). For the parents, statistical analysis identified five most important factors which placed high importance on seeking treatment for their child who is still growing to prevent future problems. (P-value<0.001 for overall comparison of distribution of responses on importance of factors) (Mention P value).

This study showed that an effective treatment strategy can be selected for each patient and parent according to their motivational profile using Q-methodology which is a novel and efficient tool that can be used in dental research.