EviDent platform – a feasibility study of acceptability, demand, and impact on dentist readiness for change in seeking and critically evaluating scientific evidence through a randomized controlled trial protocol.) - (twitter @machado_gm)
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Study design: Study Protocol
Abstract: Background Scientific processes aim to inform safer and more effective practices to guide clinical decisions. However, barriers limit dentists' compliance with evidence-based practices. The EviDent platform was designed by dentists for use by dentists. Viewing EviDent as a complex intervention, which includes not only the means of distribution but also the content and its format, this study aims to describe EviDent, investigate its acceptability and demand, and assess its impact on the willingness of dentists and undergraduate students to change their behavior, as well as on participants’ stages of change. Methods We will use the “Guide to Knowledge Translation,” which organizes communication into six steps. Based on the EviDent initiative’s methodology for developing graphic materials, designed to translate knowledge produced in academia for professionals, we will produce test materials to assess the feasibility of the customized strategy, incorporating the professionals’ perspectives. Based on these findings, necessary adjustments and changes will be made before moving on to the subsequent phases. A small-scale randomized controlled trial will be conducted, with two parallel arms, to test a method of presenting evidence that combines content and presentation format and to evaluate its impact, compared to a non-systematic intervention chosen by the dentist on dentists’ readiness to change their behavior toward evidence-based practice. Concurrently, the same comparison will be made with undergraduate students at the School of Dentistry of the University of São Paulo (FOUSP) to determine whether there is a readiness for behavioral change during undergraduate studies compared to that of graduated dentists. The methods used in this phase of the study were described in our previously published protocol, available on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/m4jq6). For the small-scale efficacy trial, which is a two-arm parallel-group study, 70 dentists will be randomly assigned to either the EviDent group (intervention, n = 35) or the control group (usual practice, n = 35). In addition, 70 undergraduate students will be assigned in the same manner. Self-administered questionnaires and guided group discussions will be used at the start of the study and after three and six months to compare the interventions in terms of dentists’ readiness to change and their stage of change regarding the search for evidence and its critical evaluation, with a view to guiding clinical decisions. Both qualitative and quantitative data will be collected. The proportion of participants who achieved a minimum significant score on the readiness-to-change scale will be calculated, and a chi-square test for frequencies and/or regression models will be used for comparisons between groups. Discussion The EviDent platform aims to bridge the gap between dentists and scientific evidence. Digital platforms are highly acceptable and feasible for health professionals. Although many platforms are designed to change patients' behaviors today, there is no convincing evidence that they change behavior. However, they seem to increase healthy behavior engagement. Our studies will contribute to the evidence for the construction of an intervention to improve dentists' engagement with evidence-based practice. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov registration is currently in progress [last update 17 August 2026]. Analysis Plan https//doi.org/10.48321/D1D2FD3620. Registration on Open Science Framework (OSF Registries), https//osf.io/m4jq6/overview.
Source: Research Square
Institution: Universidade de São Paulo
Language: English
Subfield: General Health Professions
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7204077045