Stories at the Dentist.

智力残疾者的健康和福祉面临的一个主要挑战是残疾患者和牙医所经历的焦虑程度。当智障患者焦虑时，当牙医试图治疗他们时，他们可能会变得防御并表现出挑战行为。因此，要么放弃手术，要么给病人注射镇静剂。在牙科中，需要镇静是一个常见的问题，因为智力障碍患者通常需要全身麻醉来进行简单的牙科治疗。这增加了风险，延长了恢复时间，增加了NHS的手术成本。患者焦虑的原因之一是患者与牙医之间的沟通困难。特别是，牙医很难以一种他们能理解的方式向智障患者提供有关他们所需治疗的信息。无法理解即将发生的事情或无法表达自己的感受会让去看牙医感到恐惧和压力。此外，获得所有患者的知情同意或同意被认为是良好的做法。然而，临床医生常常不确定智障患者是否理解了程序的解释。智力残疾的人很难理解抽象信息是如何与他们联系在一起的，结果是，与一般人群相比，智力残疾的患者发现做出医疗保健决定要困难得多。本研究旨在发展一套以电脑为基础的沟通系统，协助智障人士了解牙科诊疗程序，以减少病人及医生的焦虑，并使病人更能参与决策过程。该系统将在平板设备上运行，例如iPad。该系统将自动为患者生成个性化的牙科手术故事。这将允许牙医使用图形界面向患者解释手术过程。患者将能够使用该系统询问有关手术的问题并表达他们的感受。我们知道，改善沟通可以减少病人和牙医的焦虑。本研究将探讨向智障患者提供更多信息是否会改善以下结果：(i)患者；（ii）执业者；（三）保健服务，减少为智障患者提供支助所需的时间和资源。虽然这有可能在整个卫生服务中产生好处，但这项研究将重点放在牙齿健康上。

A major challenge facing the health and wellbeing of people with intellectual disabilities is the level of anxiety experienced by both the disabled patient and the dentist. When a patient with intellectual disabilities is anxious, they may become defensive and exhibit challenging behaviour when the dentist attempts to treat them. As a result of this, the procedure may have to either be abandoned or the patient sedated. The need for sedation is a common problem in dentistry as patients with intellectual disabilities often require a general anaesthetic for simple dental treatment. This carries increased risks, a longer recovery time and increases the cost of the procedure to the NHS.One reason for patients' anxiety is the difficulty in communication between patient and dentist. In particular, it can be difficult for dentists to provide patients with intellectual disabilities with information about the treatment they require in a way that they can understand. An inability to understand what is about to happen or to express feelings makes a visit to the dentist frightening and stressful. In addition, it is considered good practice to obtain informed consent or assent from all patients. However, clinicians are often unsure if a patient with intellectual disabilities has understood explanations of procedures. It is difficult for people with intellectual disabilities to understand how abstract information relates to them with the result that, compared to the general population, patients with intellectual disabilities find it significantly more difficult to make healthcare decisions. This study aims to develop a computer based communication system to support people with intellectual disabilities to understand dental procedures with the aim of reducing anxiety for both patients and clinicians, and to enable patients to be more involved in the decision making process. The system will run on a tablet device, e.g. an iPad. The system will automatically generate a story about a dental procedure which is personalised to the patient. This will allow the dentist to explain the procedure to the patient using a graphical interface. The patient will be able to use the system to ask questions about the procedure and express their feelings.We know that improved communication reduces the anxiety in both the patient and the dentist. This research will investigate whether giving more information to patients with intellectual disabilities improves the outcomes for: (i) the patient; (ii) the practitioner; and (iii) the health service by reducing the time and the resources required to support patients with intellectual disabilities. While this has the potential to produce benefits across the health service, this study will focus on dental health.