Efficacy of the SMILESup mobile health intervention on oral health literacy and early childhood dental caries.

INTERVENTION: SMILESup: is a 3‐month text messaging intervention consisting oral health lifestyle text messages delivered via mobile phone to parents of children who are waiting for a dental general anaesthesia appointment. The SMILESup text messages are semi‐personalised text messages that have been co‐designed by consumers (parents and carers) and health professionals. These text messages will be sent out 4 days/ week, for 3 months (48 text messages in total) on the Textcare™ platform. The Textcare™ platform is a purpose‐built cloud‐based delivery system that can semi‐personalise the content and frequency of delivery. It includes safety, privacy, and security systems with analytic data collection. Semi‐personalised messages may also mean that they will include the participant child’s preferred name and specifications, such as the timing of when they would like to receive the messages at home. The text‐messages will primarily be one‐way and prompt participants to change their behaviours by providing practical tips and strategies. The Textcare platform will be monitored by a clinician researcher. Content for text messages will be aligned with the WHO’s Ending childhood dental caries: Implementation manual and the literature and focus on key areas of: 1) oral hygiene, including age‐appropriate use of fluorides, 2) diet, including increased consumption of water and 3) night‐time routine, specific to the timing of diet and tooth brushing habits. Text messages will be co‐designed by researchers, clinicians and consumers, with inital content adapted and curated from the World Health Organisation (WHOs) BeHealthyBeMobile oral health program. These messages will also draw on oral health promotional content from the NSW Health website. A 4‐hour co‐design workshop will CONDITION: Dental Caries; ; Dental Caries Oral and Gastrointestinal ‐ Other diseases of the mouth, teeth, oesophagus, digestive system including liver and colon PRIMARY OUTCOME: Self‐reported tooth brushing habits for the child by the parent using parental self‐reported questionnaire ; Specifically, “How often do you brush your child’s teeth with toothpaste?”; [At baseline, 1 month , 2 months , and at 3 months (primary time point) after randomisation] INCLUSION CRITERIA: Inclusion criteria are parents/carers of children; children must have all of the following: 1)diagnosis of dental caries (tooth decay), 2) age 0 to 6 years old, 3) waiting (or have attended) a hospital admission for dental caries (tooth decay) within the public health system in NSW. Parents/carers of these children must also own an operational mobile phone, capable of sending and receiving SMS text messages; and provide written informed consent. SECONDARY OUTCOME: Barriers, enablers, and the opportunities to scale the program from the consumer perspective‐ composite secondary outcomes, with the method of collection through focus groups or semi‐structured interviews [After the completion of the trial ] Barriers, enablers, and the opportunities to scale the program from the health professional perspective‐ composite secondary outcomes, with the method of collection through focus groups or semi‐structured interviews [After completion of the trial ] Fidelity of the intervention (i.e., was the intervention conducted as planned/intended) using the Textcare and REDCap database that has been developed to document the implementation of the study.[Regular intervals (fortnightly) from start of the study until 3 months after study commencement.] Reach of the intervention using the Textcare and REDCap database that has been developed to document the implementation of the study maintained by research team.[After the completion of the study.] Self‐reported dietary behaviour of the child, by the parent related to the frequency of water consumption? ; Specifically, “How often does your child drink water?” ; [At baseline and at 3 months after randomisation.] Self‐reported dietary behaviour of the child, by the parent related to the night‐time milk consumption? ; Specifically, “How often does your child go to bed with a cup or a bottle of milk?" ; [At baseline and at 3 months after randomisation. ] Self‐reported dietary behaviour of the child, by the parent related to the number of sweet drinks a child has per week. ; Specifically, “How often does your child drink sugar sweetened drinks?” ; [At baseline and at 3 months after randomisation. ] Self‐reported dietary behaviour of the child, by the parent related to the number of sweet foods a child has per week. ; Specifically, “How often does your child eat sweet foods?” ; [At baseline and at 3 months after randomisation. ] Self‐reported oral health self‐efficacy measured using parental self‐reported questionnaire with standardised questions from the Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation (COM) of the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW) theoretical framework; this is a composite secondary outcome. [At baseline and at 3 months after randomisation.] Self‐reported oral hygiene behaviour of the child, by the parents related to the type of toothpaste used. ; Specifically, “What type of toothpaste do you put on our child’s toothbrush?” ; [At baseline and at 3 months after randomisation.]