Show them what they can't see! An evaluation of the use of customized 3D printed models in head and neck anatomy.

Difficulty in visualizing anatomical structures has been identified as a challenge in anatomy learning and the emergence of three-dimensional printed models (3DPMs) offers a potential solution. This study evaluated the effectiveness of 3DPMs for learning the arterial supply of the head and neck region. One hundred eighty-four undergraduate medical students were randomly assigned to one of four learning modalities including wet specimen, digital model, 3DPM, and textbook image. Posttest scores indicated that all four modalities supported participants' knowledge acquisition, most significantly in the wet specimen group. While the participants rated 3DPMs lower for helping correct identification of structures than wet specimens, they praised 3DPMs for their ability to demonstrate topographical relationships between the arterial supply and adjacent structures. The data further suggested that the biggest limitation of the 3DPMs was their simplicity, thus making it more difficult for users to recognize the equivalent structures on the wet specimens. It was concluded that future designs of 3DPMs will need to consider the balance between the ease of visualization of anatomical structures and the degree of complexity required for successful transfer of learning. Overall, this study presented some conflicting evidence of the favorable outcomes of 3DPMs reported in other similar studies. While effective for anatomy learning as a standalone modality, educators must identify the position 3DPM models hold relative to other modalities in the continuum of undergraduate anatomy education in order to maximize their advantages for students.

Enhancing patient-centred communication across barriers: The case of intersubjectivity management in medical interpreting.

OBJECTIVE: This study introduces the concept of intersubjectivity management in medical interpreting and identifies relevant interactional strategies employed by the interpreter, also explores their effectiveness in facilitating positive clinician-patient communication. METHODS: We used conversation analysis (CA) to analyse 27 video recordings of interpreter-mediated dental visits, participants involve English-speaking dentists, Cantonese as the first language (L1) patients and bilingual dental surgery assistants (DSA) who also play the role of ad hoc interpreters. RESULTS: The DSA-as-interpreter manages intersubjectivity for the dentist and patient through interactional strategies, such as reformulating action types, redesigning contents and information capacity, summarising and concentrating turns, constantly monitoring the situation and eliciting spoken or unspoken expressions that are medically relevant from both sides to validate them. The strategies effectively enabled and enhanced the mutual understanding and interpersonal alignment between the dentist and patient. More importantly, the DSA constantly orients to patient-centred communication. CONCLUSION: Although not professionally trained for interpreting, the DSA-as-interpreters demonstrated discursive strategies. The strategies evidently facilitated positive dentist-patient communication and relationships. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The conceptualisation and significant strategies demonstrated by the DSA-as-interpreters could potentially inform the solution of enhancing multilingual health communication in clinical staff training.

A conceptual model for clinical psychomotor skill development in an era of simulated and virtual reality.

Psychomotor skill development is central to a beginner practitioner's learning pathway. Curriculum constraints around time, access to facilities and resources in health professions education have prompted the growth in alternative approaches to clinical skill development in both simulation and direct patient care. Among these is the increased incorporation of virtual reality (VR) systems with haptic feedback alongside traditional, solid simulations. Given the rapid growth in the adoption of technological affordances to support skill development, it is cogent to pause and examine whether the underpinning concepts regarding psychomotor skill development that have driven much of the approaches to teach clinical skill acquisition in dentistry remain fit-for-purpose. This conceptual paper proposes a new taxonomy for clinical simulation psychomotor skill development in the era of increasing variety of simulation modalities.

3-Dimensional simulations and student learning in orthodontic education.

INTRODUCTION: The electronic dental model (e-model) is an example of a digital 3-dimensional technology to support inquiry-based learning in undergraduate dental education. As student perceptions of and engagement with e-models vary, it is uncertain whether these perceptions have implications for their learning processes and outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Third-year dental students (N = 40) completed a questionnaire to identify their perceptions of and preferences for model modalities. They were divided into three groups based on their preference: Preferring plaster models (Group 1); Preferring e-models (Group 2); No preference (Group 3). Students from three groups (N = 9) attended a hands-on digital occlusion evaluation workshop, and then completed a case-based diagnostic evaluation test using digital occlusion evaluation software. Camtasia Studio™ recorded real-time and on-screen data of the number of mouse-clicks and time spent. RESULTS: Students reported positive feedbacks on the use of e-models, and 72.5% of the students preferred combination use of e-models and plaster models. After attending the hands-on digital dental occlusion evaluation workshop, Group 2 scored higher on the diagnostic evaluation test (p < .05) and registered more mouse-clicks than Group 1 when evaluating the arch symmetry (p < .05). Group 2 registered fewer mouse-clicks than Group 3 during tooth size measurement (p < .05). There was no significant difference regarding the time used to answer the knowledge questions amongst the three groups. CONCLUSION: Undergraduate dental students indicated a generally high acceptance of e-models for their learning in orthodontics, and more prefer a blended approach. Students preferring e-models presented higher performance outcomes, which supports cognitive load theory regarding prior exposure to simulation-based environments.

Why is Anatomy Difficult to Learn? The Implications for Undergraduate Medical Curricula.

The impact of the medical curricular reform on anatomy education has been inconclusive. A pervasive perception is that graduates do not possess a sufficient level of anatomical knowledge for safe medical practice; however, the reason is less well-studied. This qualitative study investigated the perceived challenges in learning anatomy, possible explanations, and ways to overcome these challenges. Unlike previous work, it explored the perceptions of multiple stakeholders in anatomy learning. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and the transcripts were analyzed by a grounded theory approach. Three main themes emerged from the data: (1) visualization of structures, (2) body of information, and (3) issues with curriculum design. The decreasing time spent in anatomy laboratories forced students to rely on alternative resources to learn anatomy but they lacked the opportunities to apply to human specimens, which impeded the "near" transfer of learning. The lack of clinical integration failed to facilitate the "far" transfer of learning. Learners also struggled to cope with the large amount of surface knowledge, which was pre-requisite to successful deep and transfer of learning. It was theorized that the perceived decline in anatomical knowledge was derived from this combination of insufficient surface knowledge and impeded "near" transfer resulting in impeded deep and "far" transfer of learning. Moving forward, anatomy learning should still be cadaveric-based coupled with complementary technological innovations that demonstrate "hidden" structures. A constant review of anatomical disciplinary knowledge with incremental integration of clinical contexts should also be adopted in medical curricula which could promote deep and far transfer of learning.

Learning environments for interprofessional education: A micro-ethnography of sociomaterial assemblages in team-based learning.

BACKGROUND: Teamwork and collaboration are central to interprofessional education but fostering these attributes in large undergraduate cohorts is challenging. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine the complexities of IPE group learning processes by examining how the material and intersubjective intertwine when newly formed interprofessional groups (Chinese medicine, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and social work) synchronously engaged with face-to-face and online learning in a blended, team-based learning environment. METHODS: It was a micro-ethnography study using a sociomaterial theoretical lens. We selected two undergraduate interprofessional healthcare student groups within a large scale programme for contrastive video analysis of synchronous spatial and physical configurations, associated talk, and online activity. RESULTS: Video analysis of evolving physical configurations indicated that Group B was spatially more evenly grouped, and physically orientated to an identifiable leader, despite their blinded peer evaluations indicating distributed leadership. Group A faced a critical event at a public forum leading to spatial disruption breaking into subgroups and isolates; however, this group identified one member as a defined leader in the peer evaluations. CONCLUSIONS: Based on online scores, we found that peer identification of leaders may influence learning processes but not learning outcomes in the first IPE team meeting. The design of the physical and virtual learning environments contributed to the developing, sociomaterial processes of group cohesion in interprofessional team-based learning.

How does video case-based learning influence clinical decision-making by midwifery students? An exploratory study.

BACKGROUND: Clinical decision-making skills are essential for providing high-quality patient care. To enhance these skills, many institutions worldwide use case-based learning (CBL) as an educational strategy of pre-clinical training. However, to date, the influence of different learning modalities on students' clinical decision-making processes has not been fully explored. This study aims to explore the influence of video and paper case modalities on the clinical decision-making process of midwifery students during CBL. METHODS: CBL involving a normal pregnant woman was provided for 45 midwifery students. They were divided into 12 groups; six groups received the video modality, and six groups received the paper modality. Group discussions were video-recorded, and focus groups were conducted after the CBL. Transcripts of the group discussions were analysed in terms of their interaction patterns, and focus groups were thematically analysed based on the three-stage model of clinical decision-making, which includes cue acquisition, interpretation, and evaluation/decision-making. RESULTS: The students in the video groups paid more attention to psychosocial than biomedical aspects and discussed tailored care for the woman and her family members. They refrained from vaginal examinations and electric fetal heart monitoring. Conversely, the students in the paper groups paid more attention to biomedical than psychosocial aspects and discussed when to perform vaginal examinations and electric fetal heart monitoring. CONCLUSION: This study clarified that video and paper case modalities have different influences on learners' clinical decision-making processes. Video case learning encourages midwifery students to have a woman- and family-centred holistic perspective of labour and birth care, which leads to careful consideration of the psychosocial aspects. Paper case learning encourages midwifery students to have a healthcare provider-centred biomedical perspective of labour and childbirth care, which leads to thorough biomedical assessment.

Chickspress: a resource for chicken gene expression.

High-throughput sequencing and proteomics technologies are markedly increasing the amount of RNA and peptide data that are available to researchers, which are typically made publicly available via data repositories such as the NCBI Sequence Read Archive and proteome archives, respectively. These data sets contain valuable information about when and where gene products are expressed, but this information is not readily obtainable from archived data sets. Here we report Chickspress (http://geneatlas.arl.arizona.edu), the first publicly available gene expression resource for chicken tissues. Since there is no single source of chicken gene models, Chickspress incorporates both NCBI and Ensembl gene models and links these gene sets with experimental gene expression data and QTL information. By linking gene models from both NCBI and Ensembl gene prediction pipelines, researchers can, for the first time, easily compare gene models from each of these prediction workflows to available experimental data for these products. We use Chickspress data to show the differences between these gene annotation pipelines. Chickspress also provides rapid search, visualization and download capacity for chicken gene sets based upon tissue type, developmental stage and experiment type. This first Chickspress release contains 161 gene expression data sets, including expression of mRNAs, miRNAs, proteins and peptides. We provide several examples demonstrating how researchers may use this resource.

Getting to the Root of Fine Motor Skill Performance in Dentistry: Brain Activity During Dental Tasks in a Virtual Reality Haptic Simulation.

BACKGROUND: There is little evidence considering the relationship between movement-specific reinvestment (a dimension of personality which refers to the propensity for individuals to consciously monitor and control their movements) and working memory during motor skill performance. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) measuring oxyhemoglobin demands in the frontal cortex during performance of virtual reality (VR) psychomotor tasks can be used to examine this research gap. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the potential relationship between the propensity to reinvest and blood flow to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortices of the brain. A secondary aim was to determine the propensity to reinvest and performance during 2 dental tasks carried out using haptic VR simulators. METHODS: We used fNIRS to assess oxygen demands in 24 undergraduate dental students during 2 dental tasks (clinical, nonclinical) on a VR haptic simulator. We used the Movement-Specific Reinvestment Scale questionnaire to assess the students' propensity to reinvest. RESULTS: Students with a high propensity for movement-specific reinvestment displayed significantly greater oxyhemoglobin demands in an area associated with working memory during the nonclinical task (Spearman correlation, rs=.49, P=.03). CONCLUSIONS: This small-scale study suggests that neurophysiological differences are evident between high and low reinvesters during a dental VR task in terms of oxyhemoglobin demands in an area associated with working memory.

Implementation of an interprofessional team-based learning program involving seven undergraduate health and social care programs from two universities, and students' evaluation of their readiness for interprofessional learning.

BACKGROUND: Interprofessional learning is gaining momentum in revolutionizing healthcare education. During the academic year 2015/16, seven undergraduate-entry health and social care programs from two universities in Hong Kong took part in an interprofessional education program. Based on considerations such as the large number of students involved and the need to incorporate adult learning principles, team-based learning was adopted as the pedagogy for the program, which was therefore called the interprofessional team-based learning program (IPTBL). The authors describe the development and implementation of the IPTBL program and evaluate the effectiveness of the program implementation. METHODS: Eight hundred and one students, who are predominantly Chinese, participated in the IPTBL. The quantitative design (a pretest-posttest experimental design) was utilized to examine the students' gains on their readiness to engage in interprofessional education (IPE). RESULTS: Three instructional units (IUs) were implemented, each around a clinical area which could engage students from complementary health and social care disciplines. Each IU followed a team-based learning (TBL) process: pre-class study, individual readiness assurance test, team readiness assurance test, appeal, feedback, and application exercise. An electronic platform was developed and was progressively introduced in the three IUs. The students' self-perceived attainment of the IPE learning outcomes was high. Across all four subscales of RIPLS, there was significant improvement in student's readiness to engage in interprofessional learning after the IPTBL. A number of challenges were identified: significant time involvement of the teachers, difficulty in matching students from different programs, difficulty in making IPTBL count towards a summative assessment score, difficulty in developing the LAMS platform, logistics difficulty in managing paper TBL, and inappropriateness of the venue. CONCLUSIONS: Despite some challenges in developing and implementing the IPTBL program, our experience showed that TBL is a viable pedagogy to be used in interprofessional education involving hundreds of students. The significant improvement in all four subscales of RIPLS showed the effects of the IPTBL program in preparing students for collaborative practice. Factors that contributed to the success of the use of TBL for IPE are discussed.

A review of communication models and frameworks in a healthcare context.

This paper reviews six key communication models and frameworks in healthcare contexts. Comparison suggests key inter-relationships between the different stages of the clinical consultations. Implications are identified for future study in healthcare provider-patient communication. Clinical Relevance: To understand the healthcare provider-patient interaction through communication models.

Social media in adolescent health literacy education: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: While health literacy has gained notice on a global stage, the initial focus on seeking associations with medical conditions may have overlooked its impact across generations. Adolescent health literacy, specifically in dentistry, is an underexplored area despite the significance of this formative stage on an individual's approach to healthy lifestyles and behaviors. OBJECTIVE: The aim is to conduct a pilot study to evaluate the efficacy of three major social media outlets - Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube - in supporting adolescents' oral health literacy (OHL) education. METHODS: A random sample of 22 adolescents (aged 14-16 years) from an English-medium international school in Hong Kong provided informed consent. Sociodemographic information, including English language background, social media usage, and dental experience were collected via a questionnaire. A pre- and post-test of OHL (REALD-30) was administered by two trained, calibrated examiners. Following pre-test, participants were randomly assigned to one of three social media outlets: Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube. Participants received alerts posted daily for 5 consecutive days requiring online accessing of modified and original OHL education materials. One-way ANOVA ( analysis of variance) was used to compare the mean difference between the pre- and the post-test results among the three social media. RESULTS: No associations were found between the social media allocated and participants' sociodemographics, including English language background, social media usage, and dental experience. Of the three social media, significant differences in literacy assessment scores were evident for participants who received oral health education messages via Facebook (P=.02) and YouTube (P=.005). CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results of the pilot study, Facebook and YouTube may be more efficient media outlets for OHL promotion and education among adolescent school children when compared to Twitter. Further analyses with a larger study group is warranted.

Educational technologies in problem-based learning in health sciences education: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: As a modern pedagogical philosophy, problem-based learning (PBL) is increasingly being recognized as a major research area in student learning and pedagogical innovation in health sciences education. A new area of research interest has been the role of emerging educational technologies in PBL. Although this field is growing, no systematic reviews of studies of the usage and effects of educational technologies in PBL in health sciences education have been conducted to date. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to review new and emerging educational technologies in problem-based curricula, with a specific focus on 3 cognate clinical disciplines: medicine, dentistry, and speech and hearing sciences. Analysis of the studies reviewed focused on the effects of educational technologies in PBL contexts while addressing the particular issue of scaffolding of student learning. METHODS: A comprehensive computerized database search of full-text articles published in English from 1996 to 2014 was carried out using 3 databases: ProQuest, Scopus, and EBSCOhost. Eligibility criteria for selection of studies for review were also determined in light of the population, intervention, comparison, and outcomes (PICO) guidelines. The population was limited to postsecondary education, specifically in dentistry, medicine, and speech and hearing sciences, in which PBL was the key educational pedagogy and curriculum design. Three types of educational technologies were identified as interventions used to support student inquiry: learning software and digital learning objects; interactive whiteboards (IWBs) and plasma screens; and learning management systems (LMSs). RESULTS: Of 470 studies, 28 were selected for analysis. Most studies examined the effects of learning software and digital learning objects (n=20) with integration of IWB (n=5) and LMS (n=3) for PBL receiving relatively less attention. The educational technologies examined in these studies were seen as potentially fit for problem-based health sciences education. Positive outcomes for student learning included providing rich, authentic problems and/or case contexts for learning; supporting student development of medical expertise through the accessing and structuring of expert knowledge and skills; making disciplinary thinking and strategies explicit; providing a platform to elicit articulation, collaboration, and reflection; and reducing perceived cognitive load. Limitations included cumbersome scenarios, infrastructure requirements, and the need for staff and student support in light of the technological demands of new affordances. CONCLUSIONS: This literature review demonstrates the generally positive effect of educational technologies in PBL. Further research into the various applications of educational technology in PBL curricula is needed to fully realize its potential to enhance problem-based approaches in health sciences education.

The Relation Between Caregivers' Multiliterate Reading Habits and Their Children's Oral Health Status.

BACKGROUND: Caregivers' oral health literacy (OHL) assessment results have been found to be related to their children's oral health status. A further aspect of this relationship may be the role of caregivers' reading habits. OBJECTIVE: Our goal was to describe the relationship between caregivers' multimodal (digital and print) and multilingual (English and Chinese) reading habits, their OHL, and their child's oral health status in Hong Kong. METHODS: A random sample of 301 child-caregiver dyads was recruited from kindergartens in Hong Kong. Data included sociodemographic information and caregivers' self-reported digital print and reading habits across two languages (Chinese and English). Caregivers' OHL levels were assessed by two locally developed and validated oral health literacy assessment tasks: Hong Kong Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Dentistry-30 (HKREALD-30) and the Hong Kong Oral Health Literacy Assessment Task for Pediatric Dentistry (HKOHLAT-P). Children's oral health status was assessed using two measures: dental caries experience (number of decayed, missing, and filled teeth) and oral hygiene status (Visible Plaque Index). RESULTS: Bivariate variations revealed significant differences in mean OHL scores between caregivers with different reading habits (P<.01). Correlations revealed significant associations between caregivers' practices of reading multimodal (print/digital) and multilingual (English/Chinese) texts, their literacy levels, and their children's oral health status (P<.01). Adjusting for sociodemographics and all other reading habits in the regression analysis, the caregivers' habit of reading digital and print texts was significantly retained in the final model. Regression analysis revealed significant associations between caregivers' reading habits (digital Chinese) and their OHL word recognition scores: OR 5.00, 95% CI 1.10-3.65, P=.027. Significant associations were also evident for their OHL comprehension scores (digital Chinese: OR 2.30, 95% CI 1.30-4.20, P=.004; print Chinese: OR 2.50, 95% CI 1.40-4.30, P=.001). However, no significant associations were found between caregivers' reading habits and child's oral health status (P>.05). CONCLUSIONS: Caregivers' habits of reading print and digital Chinese texts are significantly associated with their OHL scores. Their reading habits, however, do not affect their children's oral health status.

Efficacy of instruments measuring oral health literacy: a systematic review.

PURPOSE: To identify and review the psychometric properties of instruments available for measuring oral health literacy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A comprehensive computerised search was carried out using six databases. The final papers were rated for level of evidence and scientific quality. RESULTS: A total of 621 potentially relevant articles were retrieved in the primary search. Twenty-nine studies using 13 oral health literacy instruments were included in the final analysis. After applying an international standards framework, all included studies were categorised as evidence level '2c'. Qualities of evidence were rated with STROBE guidelines. Psychometric analysis indicated various levels of validity and reliability across the instruments. CONCLUSIONS: As an emerging field, the number and reliability of oral health literacy instruments is rapidly growing, although many are in preliminary stages of testing. The majority of these focus on functional literacy and were developed in English for North American contexts. Further work is indicated to measure oral health literacy as a wider construct across diverse populations.

Genome Sequence of the Oleaginous Yeast Rhodotorula glutinis ATCC 204091.

Rhodotorula glutinis ATCC 204091 is an oleaginous oxidative red yeast that can accumulate lipids to >50% of its biomass when grown with appropriate carbon and nitrogen ratios. It produces a red pigment consisting of useful antioxidants, such as carotenoids, torulene, and torularhodin, when cultivated under carbon-deficient conditions.

The relationship between caregiver functional oral health literacy and child oral health status.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the relationship between caregivers' oral health literacy (OHL) and the oral health status of their children in an Asian population. METHODS: A random sample of 301 child/caregiver dyads was recruited from kindergartens in Hong Kong. Two locally-developed and validated OHL assessment tasks were administered to caregivers with Hong Kong Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Dentistry-30 (HKREALD-30) assessing word recognition and Hong Kong Oral Health Literacy Assessment Task for Paediatric Dentistry (HKOHLAT-P) assessing comprehension. Their children's oral health status was assessed [dental caries experience - decayed, missing, filled teeth index - (dmft) and oral hygiene status - Visible Plaque Index (VPI)]. RESULTS: Caregivers' literacy was associated with children's oral health status. The HKOHLAT-P had a stronger association with children's oral health than HKREALD-30. HKOHLAT-P and HKREALD-30 remained associated with dmft in the adjusted negative binomial regression models (accounting for socio-demographics), Incidence Rate Ratio (IRR) 0.97, p=0.02, and 0.96, p=0.03, respectively. In the adjusted model, HKOHLAT-P was associated with VPI (IRR 0.90, p<0.05), but no association between HKREALD-30 and VPI was evident. CONCLUSION: The main conclusion of this study was that caregiver oral health literacy was associated with their child's oral health status. A comprehension instrument had a more robust association with children's oral status than a word recognition instrument. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: This study has implications for general public health education for designing community-level interventions.

Development of functional oral health literacy assessment instruments: application of literacy and cognitive theories.

OBJECTIVES: This paper describes the development of a new literacy assessment instrument, the Hong Kong Oral Health Literacy Assessment Task for Paediatric Dentistry (HKOHLAT-P). Its relationship to literacy theory is analyzed to establish content and face validity. Implications for construct validity are examined by analyzing cognitive demand to determine how "comprehension" is measured. METHODS: Key influences from literacy assessment were identified to analyze item development. Cognitive demand was analyzed using an established taxonomy. RESULTS: The HKOHLAT-P focuses on the functional domain of health literacy assessment. Items had strong content and face validity reflecting established principles from modern literacy theory. Inclusion of new text types signified relevant developments in the area of new literacies. Analysis of cognitive demand indicated that this instrument assesses the "comprehension" domain, specifically the areas of factual and procedural knowledge, with some assessment of conceptual knowledge. Metacognitive knowledge was not assessed. CONCLUSIONS: Comprehension tasks assessing patient health literacy predominantly examine functional health literacy at the lower levels of comprehension. Item development is influenced by the fields of situated and authentic literacy. Inclusion of content regarding multiliteracies is suggested for further research. Development of functional health literacy assessment instruments requires careful consideration of the clinical context in determining construct validity.

Genome comparison of Listeria monocytogenes serotype 4a strain HCC23 with selected lineage I and lineage II L. monocytogenes strains and other Listeria strains.

More than 98% of reported human listeriosis cases are caused by specific serotypes within genetic lineages I and II. The genome sequence of Listeria monocytogenes lineage III strain HCC23 (serotype 4a) enables whole genomic comparisons across all three L. monocytogenes lineages. Protein cluster analysis indicated that strain HCC23 has the most unique protein pairs with nonpathogenic species Listeria innocua. Orthology analysis of the genome sequences of representative strains from the three L. monocytogenes genetic lineages and L. innocua (CLIP11262) identified 319 proteins unique to nonpathogenic strains HCC23 and CLIP11262 and 58 proteins unique to pathogenic strains F2365 and EGD-e. BLAST comparison of these proteins with all the sequenced L. monocytogenes and L. innocua revealed 126 proteins unique to serotype 4a and/or L. innocua; 14 proteins were only found in pathogenic serotypes. Some of the 58 proteins unique to pathogenic strains F2365 and EGD-e were previously published and are already known to contribute to listerial virulence.

Validation of the Hong Kong Oral Health Literacy Assessment Task for paediatric dentistry (HKOHLAT-P).

BACKGROUND: Oral health literacy is a newly emerging field with considerable research potential. AIM: To validate an original instrument, the Hong Kong Oral Health Literacy Assessment Task (HKOHLAT-P) for paediatric dentistry. DESIGN: A convenient sample of 200 child/parent dyads attending a dental hospital in Hong Kong was selected. Convergent validity was tested by examining the association of HKOHLAT-P scores with those derived from the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Dentistry (TOFHLiD) and Hong Kong Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Dentistry (HKREALD-30). The predictive validity of HKOHLAT-P was determined by testing the association between HKOHLAT-P and children's caries experience (dmft) and the Chinese Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS). The test-retest reliability and internal consistency of HKOHLAT-P were also evaluated. RESULTS: HKOHLAT-P was positively correlated with TOFHLiD and HKREALD-30 (P < 0.01), and was negatively correlated with children's dmft and ECOHIS. In the regression model, HKOHLAT-P was associated with TOFHLiD, HKEALD-30, children's dmft, and ECOHIS (P < 0.05) after controlling for participants' demographic characteristics. The intra-class correlation coefficient of HKOHLAT-P was 0.63 and the Cronbach's α was 0.71. CONCLUSION: Initial testing of HKOHLAT-P suggested that it is a valid and reliable instrument.