Electrodermal activity as an indicator of dental anxiety hearing impaired children after educated by pop-up books

Dental anxiety can occur in children and adults. It can cause a child to be uncooperative during dental care. Children with hearing impairment have hearing loss, and therefore have barriers in interacting and communicating with others, especially during dental care procedures. "Aku dan Gigiku" pop-up books are an educational medium containing information about dental health and dental care. Measuring dental anxiety in children is important to improve the quality of clinical care. Measuring the electrodermal activity is one of the simplest ways to quantitatively measure the psychophysiological activity of patient anxiety. The study was carried out on 42 children with hearing impairment (21 children each in the control and intervention groups) from 7-9 years of age. Children in the treatment group were educated with "Aku dan Gigiku" pop-up books. Dental anxiety was assessed by measuring electrodermal activity using galvanic skin response (GSR) at two time points: before and after education with the pop-up book "Aku dan Gigiku." The results of both the groups were compared. Result: Statistical data were analyzed with the Mann-Whitney test. There was a statistically significant difference in the delta value of electrodermal activity between the intervention and control groups. This study shows that "Aku dan Gigiku" has a positive effect on the dental anxiety of children with hearing impairment.