mHealth App for Oral Hygiene and Cancer Awareness in Older Adults

Tele-education Through a New Mobile Application to Improve Oral Cancer Knowledge and Oral Hygiene in Older Adults

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether a mobile app with educational videos and serious games is more effective than a video-only version of the app to improve knowledge, attitudes, and practices about oral cancer and oral hygiene in older adults.

The study also aims to evaluate the usability of the app and the impact of the intervention on performing oral self-examination.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

1. - Does the version of the app with videos and serious games lead to greater improvement in oral cancer knowledge than the video-only version?
2. - Are there differences in attitudes and self-examination practices between the two groups after using the app?
3. - How frequently and consistently do participants use the app during the study period, and how much do they interact with the educational videos and serious games?
4. - Are there differences in outcomes by sex or education level?

Participants will:

Be adults aged 60 and more receiving care at the Dental Clinic of the University of Chile

Be randomly assigned to use one of two versions of the same app:

• Group A: Access to educational videos and serious games
• Group B: Access to educational videos only

Use the app for 4 weeks

Answer a questionnaire before starting, after 2 weeks, and after 4 weeks

Perform an oral self-examination at week 4, which will be evaluated using a checklist

This trial will help determine whether mobile tele-education tools, especially those that include interactive features like serious games, are effective and acceptable ways to improve oral health education in older adults.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adults aged 60 years and older.
• Completed dental treatment at the Dental Clinic of the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Chile, during 2023 and 2024.
• Own a smartphone with Android operating system.
• Regular users of at least one social media platform (e.g., WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook).

Exclusion Criteria:

• Older adults with self-reported uncorrected visual or auditory sensory deficits resulting in total blindness or deafness.
• Older adults with cognitive impairment, defined as a score of 13 or lower on the abbreviated Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) (maximum score 19).