Development of a Caregiver Educational Guide to Support Oral Hygiene Routines in Children With Neurodevelopmental Conditions

Background: Children with neurodevelopmental conditions (NDCs) often face challenges with oral hygiene due to sensory, motor, cognitive, or behavioral factors. Caregivers play an important role in supporting their daily routines but frequently feel underprepared and overwhelmed with too clinical, condition-specific, or fragmented information. There is a need for comprehensive and caregiver-friendly educational resources. Purpose: This capstone project aimed to develop and evaluate a caregiver educational guide to support oral hygiene routines for children with NDCs. Methods: A mixed-methods program development and evaluation design was used, comprising 3 phases: needs identification, development of the educational guide, and evaluation informed by caregiver feedback to guide revisions. Convenience sampling was used; 12 caregivers were invited, and 9 completed a feedback survey. Caregivers were asked to review the guide and complete a feedback survey. Survey data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics and identifying common topics. Results: Caregivers responded positively across all domains. The guide was described as helpful, practical, clear, and easy to understand, and the visual elements greatly enhanced these qualities; all participants reported increased confidence. There were some variations in response regarding content length and the amount of information. Caregivers provided some suggestions, such as adding video demonstrations and including short summaries for each chapter. Conclusion: This capstone project supported caregivers of children with NDCs in maintaining oral hygiene routines. This caregiver-friendly, practical guide improved caregivers' confidence. It can contribute to positive and sustainable oral hygiene routines for children with NDCs and their caregivers in everyday life.