Orthodontists’ and patients’ preferences in website design in the selection of an orthodontic practice: a comparative study

• Main Author: Brown, Taylor R
• Format: Others
• Published: VCU Scholars Compass 2018
• Subjects: website design; orthodontics; patient preferences; social media; treatment options; about the doctor; Communication Technology and New Media; Graphic Communications; Graphic Design; Health Communication; Illustration; Orthodontics and Orthodontology; Social Media
• Online Access: https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/5333; https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6422&context=etd

Objective: To determine which website characteristics are preferred by orthodontists, adult patients, and parents of patients. Materials and Methods: 1,000 active members of the American Association of Orthodontists and 750 active orthodontic patients/parents were sampled. Participants rated the importance of website characteristics, indicated presence of those characteristics on the current website, and ranked sample website images. Preferences were compared between orthodontist and the patient/parent group using t-tests and sample websites were compared using ANOVA models and Tukey’s adjusted post-hoc tests. Significance level was set at 0.05. Results: 11 of the 16 website features showed significant differences between patients/parents and orthodontists. Participants preferred sample websites with images of people, information at the top of the page, and an ‘about the doctor’ page with a greater amount of information. Conclusion: This study showed significant differences in preferences between orthodontists and patients/parents, by gender, and between adult patients and parents of adolescent patients.