The perspectives of a broader user population on the dents AR Augmented Reality application for children’s oral health promotion based on gender, age, and grade in rural areas: a cross sectional study using the modified system usability scale

TL;DR

This study evaluates children's usability perceptions of an AR app for oral health in rural areas, finding mixed usability ratings with no significant differences by gender, age, or grade.

Contribution

The study provides insights into the usability of an AR application for children's oral health promotion in rural areas using a modified usability scale.

Findings

Approximately 46.6% of responses indicated poor usability ratings for the Dents AR application.

No statistically significant differences in usability scores were found across gender, age, or grade level.

The usability scores ranged from grade F (poor) to grade A+ (excellent).

Abstract

The augmented reality (AR) application Dents AR was developed to align with technological and informational advancements in a field that requires a valid framework to evaluate usability aspects effectively. This study aimed to analyse the perspectives of children in rural areas on the Dents AR augmented reality application based on gender, age, and grade using the Modified System Usability Scale (mSUS).

A cross sectional design was implemented, involving 380 children from three elementary schools. A purposive sampling procedure was applied, and the sample size was determined using the population proportion formula for a known population size with 5% precision, resulting in a final sample of 195 children. Data collection utilized the Dents AR application from the Augmented Reality Activity Book: Dental Caries Progress And How To Prevent It and the application was launched by scanning the barcode provided in the book. Data was administered through online questionnaires. Data were analyzed using the T test and One way Anova tests.

The mSUS score range and grade distribution for the Dents AR application from grade F (poor) to grade A+ (excellent). Approximately 46.6% of responses fell within the “F&D” grade category or poor adjective category and approximately 53.3% of responses fell within the “C until A+” grade category or the OK to excellent adjective rating. The comparison of mSUS scores based on participant characteristics revealed that the p-values for gender (p = 0.245), age (p = 0.591) and grade level (p = 0.720) were all greater than 0.05, indicating no statistically significant differences in mSUS scores by gender, age or grade level.

The perspectives of a broader user population on the dents ar augmented reality application for children’s oral health promotion based on gender, age, and grade in rural areas: a cross sectional study using the modified system usability scale shows that the Dents AR application had values from grade F (poor) to grade A+ (excellent). Approximately more responses fell within the “F&D” grade category or poor adjective category compared to responses that fell within the “C until A+” grade category or the OK to excellent adjective rating and perspectives across gender, age, and grade revealed no usability differences.

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