IADR Abstract Archives
Dental Decision Making Influencing Factors. A Systematic Map.
Objectives: Clinical decision making is a complex phenomenon. Studies have shown variation in decision making amongst dentists. The aim of this systematic mapping review was to a) categorise studies describing dental decision making, b) identify decision making models in dentistry and c) classify decision making factors explored in empirical research.
Methods: A systematic search of the healthcare, psychological and grey literature was performed across multiple electronic databases. Citations were screened for relevance by two independent reviewers. Classification of the included studies was performed by two reviewers after discussion and consensus. The extraction of the explored factors was performed by a single reviewer and checked by another. Any disagreements were resolved by discussion. A third of reviewer was consulted when consensus was not reached.
Results: The searches retrieved 15,819 citations. After de-duplication, 12,677 articles were assessed for relevance. 259 studies were included in the systematic map. The included studies were categorised in the following four broad categories: a) Theoretical papers. b) Experimental studies, c) Studies on dentists’ perception and d) Real-life studies. From those, the experimental studies (b) which used a clinical scenario or case (vignette or clinical radiograph or photograph) were read in full and the factors which were evaluated were extracted. These were subsequently classified as i) dentist related factors, ii) patient related factors, iii) health related factors and iv) system/environmental related factors. The same strategy was followed for studies which explored the dentists’ self-perceived factors (c). Commonalities and discrepancies between data from b and c studies were noted.
Conclusions: This review, adopting a systematic approach identified factors that perceived as influential in dentists’ decisions but they have not been evaluated in empirical research. This mapping review will inform the conduct of future empirical studies in this field.
Methods: A systematic search of the healthcare, psychological and grey literature was performed across multiple electronic databases. Citations were screened for relevance by two independent reviewers. Classification of the included studies was performed by two reviewers after discussion and consensus. The extraction of the explored factors was performed by a single reviewer and checked by another. Any disagreements were resolved by discussion. A third of reviewer was consulted when consensus was not reached.
Results: The searches retrieved 15,819 citations. After de-duplication, 12,677 articles were assessed for relevance. 259 studies were included in the systematic map. The included studies were categorised in the following four broad categories: a) Theoretical papers. b) Experimental studies, c) Studies on dentists’ perception and d) Real-life studies. From those, the experimental studies (b) which used a clinical scenario or case (vignette or clinical radiograph or photograph) were read in full and the factors which were evaluated were extracted. These were subsequently classified as i) dentist related factors, ii) patient related factors, iii) health related factors and iv) system/environmental related factors. The same strategy was followed for studies which explored the dentists’ self-perceived factors (c). Commonalities and discrepancies between data from b and c studies were noted.
Conclusions: This review, adopting a systematic approach identified factors that perceived as influential in dentists’ decisions but they have not been evaluated in empirical research. This mapping review will inform the conduct of future empirical studies in this field.