Patient Perception of Patient-centeredness in Orthodontic Consultation of Patients from Saudi Arabia

Patient-centered care involves respecting patients' dignity and actively including them in decision-making processes. However, its assessment remains quite challenging. This study aimed to assess patients’ perception of patient-centered care in orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning in Saudi Arabia.

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 430 patients seeking orthodontic care at different government and private clinics in Saudi Arabia. An online Revised Patient Perception of Patient-Centeredness (PPPC-R) questionnaire that consisted of 18 questions was filled in by the patient immediately after the initial or treatment planning consultation with an orthodontist and asked to rate the scores from 1 to 4. The final PPPC-R scores were calculated and compared between gender and age groups (adolescents and adults).

A total of 270 responses were obtained with a response rate of 62.79%, and all responses were complete. The mean age of participants was 22.53 years (range 18 to 65 years), and among them, 132 were male. The average score for the questions ranged from 2.26 to 3.58, and the Mann-Whitney test showed no significant differences in the scores between gender (Z = -0.897, p-value 0.370) and age group (Z = -0.092, p-value 0.927). Similar insignificant differences were noted between gender and age group when compared at the level of three factors from the questionnaire.

Patients who are scheduled for orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning perceived a high level of patient-centeredness. There were no significant differences in the PPPC-R scores between the age group and gender of the participants when measured across each factor level and in total.