Effectiveness of the Development Program of Village Health Volunteers (VHVs) in Screening for Oral Precancerous Lesions with Artificial Intelligence Devices

Abstract

The shortage of dental personnel is a limitation in oral cancer control programs. Using the training method of village health volunteers (VHVs) and using screening tools such as artificial intelligence devices can increase the efficiency of medical personnel in helping screen for precancerous lesions in the oral cavity. This study used quasi-experimental design with two groups of pre- and post-test measurements. The objectives were to compare knowledge of oral precancerous lesion screening and oral photography ability of VHVs before and after participating in the VHVs capacity development program for oral precancerous lesion screening. The subjects consisted of VHVs in Thalang District, Phuket Province, in the experimental and control groups, 32 people each, using systematic sampling. The instruments used for data collection were questionnaires and tests, with reliability values ​​of 0.711 and 0.708, respectively.

              Data were analyzed for 1) descriptive personal characteristics of the subjects using frequency distribution, percentage, mean, and standard deviation and 2) Compared the difference in scores of VHVs in measuring knowledge of screening for precancerous lesions of the oral cavity and scores of oral photography ability tests before and after providing the program to develop VHVs' potential in screening for precancerous lesions of the oral cavity using Paired t-test and Independent t-test statistics.

The results of the comparison of knowledge scores on oral precancerous lesions screening showed that before joining the program, the knowledge scores of the experimental group and the control group were not different (p = 0.728), but after joining the program, the scores of the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group (p = 0.009). The results of the comparison of oral photography ability scores showed that before joining the program, the ability scores of the experimental group and the control group were not different (p-value = 0.375), but after joining the program, the scores of the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group (p < 0.001).

This study suggested that it should increase the subjects used in the study and should select a subject with the most similar demographic characteristics, such as age and education, which may affect the study. In order for the sample group of VHVs to be familiar with normal and abnormal oral organs, they should try examining real patients.