title: Students' perceptions of the acceptability of behaviour management techniques.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to determine the perceptions of dental students of the acceptability of different forms of behaviour management for children. The effect of client characteristics (typically developing or learning disabled), intervention method (relaxation training and reinforcement or physical restraint) and treatment outcome (good or poor) on acceptability ratings made by fourth year dental students was determined. Students rated the acceptability of treatments on the basis of written vignettes using a standardized measure of the acceptability of behavioural treatments (the Treatment Evaluation Inventory, TEI, Kazdin, French and Sherick 1981). The study had a full factorial design; all possible combinations of variables were represented in the vignettes. The results were analysed using ANOVA models. There were significant main effects of intervention method and treatment outcome, indicating that less restrictive methods and good intervention outcome were rated as more acceptable. Significant two- and three-way interactions were found, which suggested that the use of restrictive methods may be perceived as more acceptable for a child with learning disabilities even when the outcome was poor. The second order interactions revealed that the acceptability of restrictive techniques was improved less markedly by a good outcome. This study highlights the importance of empirically evaluating outcome and treatment restrictiveness when engaging in behaviour management during dental procedures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dental Public Health and Oral Health Services Research, GKT Dental Institute, King's College London, Guy's Hospital, London, UK. tim.newton@kcl.ac.uk
authors.forename: J Timothy
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Newton
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sturmey
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002657:Child Development; D003729:Dental Care / Q000523:psychology*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D010377:Pediatric Dentistry / Q000193:education; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012064:Relaxation Therapy; D012149:Restraint, Physical; D013335:Students, Dental / Q000523:psychology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome