Experiential learning for children’s dental anxiety: a cluster randomized trial

BMC Oral Health

Table 2 Primary and secondary outcomes

Outcomes	EL group	TSD group	Intervention effect^a	P value^$
DA (score)	27.3 ± 11.6	29.2 ± 12.1	−2.5(− 4.9 − − 0.2)	0.042
High DA (%)	18.5	24.3	0.65(0.46–0.93)	0.019
SBP (mmHg)
At the waiting room	108.7 ± 12.1	107.8 ± 12.7
After the PFS	106.1 ± 13.0	108.5 ± 14.2
Change	−2.7 ± 12.8	0.7 ± 14.2	−2.6(−4.4 − −0.9)	0.036
DBP (mmHg)
At the waiting room	66.2 ± 9.5	65.5 ± 10.0
After the PFS	68.0 ± 12.1	70.0 ± 11.6
Change	1.7 ± 12.3	4.5 ± 12.9	−2.0(−4.4–0.3)	0.086
PR (Beats per minute)
At the waiting room	93.1 ± 14.0	92.0 ± 13.5
After the PFS	93.3 ± 13.9	94.4 ± 13.4
Change	0.2 ± 14.0	2.5 ± 12.2	−1.7 (−3.4 − −0.1)	0.038

DA Dental anxiety, SBP Systolic blood pressures, DBP Diastolic blood pressures, PR Pulse rates, EL Experiential learning, TSD Tell-Show-Do, PFS Pit and fissure sealant; Plus–minus value is Mean ± SD
^aFor prevalence of high DA, the result is the odds ratio and 95% confidence interval; for DA score, SBP, DBP and PR, the results are the mean difference and 95% confidence interval
^$For prevalence of high DA, the P value was calculated with a mixed-effect logistic regression, which included a random cluster effect of class, and covariates of gender and school; while for difference of DA score, SBP, DBP and PR, P values were calculated by linear mixed-effect models, with a random cluster effect of class, and covariates of gender, school and baseline value (for SBP, DBP and PR only)

ISSN: 1472-6831