Background:

Paediatric dentists often report using positive reinforcement to encourage their young patients to show co-operative behaviour. For effective reinforcement to take place the reward should be salient to the individual. To date, there is little research into what reward a young patient will choose when attending the dentist.

Aim:

To identify what reward children between the age of 4–8 years will choose when attending the dentist, and to determine the extent of agreement between children and caregivers in reward choice.

Method:

Observational study. Fifty-two children from different age groups (4–5 years, 6–7 years and 8 years) attending a primary-care dental clinic were asked to choose between a range of different rewards. The caregiver attending with them was also asked to anticipate the child’s preferred choice.

Results:

There was no clear favourite reward for children from both genders and different age group. However, no child chose the ‘sticker’ reward that is traditionally given out at the dentist. Overall carers agreed with the child’s choice of toy on 18 occasions (34.6%), but there were significant differences across the age groups with carers of older children showing less agreement

Conclusion:

To ensure that rewards are salient, children should be given a choice of rewards when attending the dental clinic. Parents ability to predict their child’s preferred rewards decreases as the child ages.

Clinical relevance:

A child’s motivation to co-operate during dental treatment can be increased by offering a range of rewards. Asking children to choose their reward from a limited range will increase the saliency of the reward for the child.

中文翻译：

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孩子喜欢看牙医时表现良好的奖励是什么？

背景：

儿科牙医经常报告使用正强化来鼓励他们的年轻患者表现出合作行为。为了进行有效的强化，奖励应该对个人很重要。迄今为止，很少有人研究年轻患者在看牙医时会选择什么奖励。

目的：

确定 4-8 岁儿童在看牙医时会选择什么奖励，并确定儿童和看护人在奖励选择上的一致程度。

方法：

观察性研究。来自不同年龄组（4-5 岁、6-7 岁和 8 岁）的 52 名在初级保健牙科诊所就诊的儿童被要求在一系列不同的奖励中进行选择。与他们一起参加的护理人员还被要求预测孩子的首选选择。

结果：

对于来自不同性别和不同年龄组的孩子，没有明确的最喜欢的奖励。然而，没有孩子选择传统上在牙医处发放的“贴纸”奖励。总体看护人同意孩子选择玩具的有 18 次（34.6%），但不同年龄组之间存在显着差异，大龄儿童看护人的同意程度较低

结论：

为确保奖励显着，儿童在就读牙科诊所时应选择奖励。父母预测孩子偏好奖励的能力随着孩子年龄的增长而降低。

临床相关性：

通过提供一系列奖励，可以提高孩子在牙科治疗期间合作的动力。让孩子从有限的范围内选择他们的奖励会增加孩子的奖励的显着性。