Open Collections

Tam, Jessica

University of British Columbia

Objective: Obtaining informed consent for dental rehabilitation under general anesthesia (GA) for young children with extensive treatment needs is a patient-centered process involving shared decision-making with the family. However, due to intercultural differences, this may present challenges with immigrant families who may not be familiar with North American consent processes and standards of care. This study aimed to explore the barriers and facilitators to immigrant Chinese parents’ provision of informed consent for the use of GA to manage the behaviour of pre-cooperative children with extensive dental treatment needs. Methods: A semi-structured, open-ended questionnaire utilizing vignettes was developed to guide the interview process with immigrant Chinese parents of young children presenting for dental care in Vancouver, Canada. Interviews were conducted in Mandarin and subsequently transcribed, translated, and coded; thematic analysis determined emerging themes. Results: Six major themes emerged from 12 interviews: parental expectations of young children’s ability to cooperate for extensive dental treatment; differences in intercultural perspectives around the need to protect a child’s developing psyche; parental concerns about safety and possible adverse impacts on neurodevelopment; influence of parental knowledge of oral health in the primary dentition; influence of economic factors on providing informed consent; influence of ethnic Chinese cultural values on the informed consent process. Conclusion: The results of this study suggests that differing intercultural expectations related to oral health care for children may present significant barriers to obtaining informed consent for dental rehabilitation under GA for Chinese-Canadian parents. It also emphasizes the importance to discuss potential adverse outcomes associated with GA at the parent consultation appointment. In order to empower the family to make the best informed decision, dentists should consider the acculturation discrepancy of immigrant families to ensure the optimal overall health of the child/family.

Text

2023-09-30

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/79293

Craniofacial Science

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/