A Just-in-Time Digital Learning Platform for Teacher Oral Health Training

Overview

This randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of a Just-in-Time Digital Learning Platform designed to improve teachers' oral health literacy and support the delivery of oral health education in schools. Teachers play an important role in promoting healthy behaviors among children, but many have limited access to structured oral health training. Digital microlearning approaches may provide a scalable and cost-effective solution for strengthening teacher capacity in school-based oral health promotion. Teachers assigned to the intervention group will receive access to a digital learning platform that delivers short, interactive, and evidence-based oral health training modules through mobile devices. The platform will provide educational content, reminders, quizzes, feedback, and progress monitoring. Teachers in the control group will receive standard information or routine training practices. The study will assess changes in teachers' oral health literacy, knowledge, attitudes, and confidence in delivering oral health education. It will also evaluate implementation outcomes, including acceptability, feasibility, adoption, fidelity, reach, and engagement with the digital platform. In addition, the study will examine whether improvements in teacher training lead to better oral health knowledge, behaviors, and clinical oral health outcomes among students.

Oral diseases remain among the most prevalent chronic conditions affecting children worldwide and disproportionately burden populations in low- and middle-income countries. Schools are recognized as an important setting for oral health promotion because they provide sustained access to children during critical periods of behavioral development. Teachers are key agents in implementing school-based oral health interventions; however, limited training opportunities, competing responsibilities, and resource constraints often reduce their effectiveness in delivering oral health education. Digital learning technologies provide opportunities to overcome these challenges through flexible, scalable, and low-cost training approaches. Just-in-Time learning is an educational strategy that delivers concise information at the point of need, enabling users to acquire knowledge and skills in a timely and accessible manner. Despite growing interest in digital health education, evidence regarding the effectiveness and implementation of digital oral health training for teachers remains limited. This randomized controlled trial will evaluate a Just-in-Time Digital Learning Platform developed to improve teachers' oral health literacy and strengthen the delivery of school-based oral health promotion activities. The intervention consists of short digital microlearning modules, interactive quizzes, reminders, feedback mechanisms, and performance-monitoring features accessible through mobile devices. The primary objective is to determine the effect of the intervention on teachers' oral health literacy. Secondary objectives include assessing changes in teachers' oral health knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, and educational practices, as well as student oral health knowledge, behaviors, and clinical oral health outcomes. The study will further evaluate implementation outcomes including acceptability, feasibility, adoption, fidelity, reach, engagement, and sustainability using implementation science frameworks. Equity analyses will assess whether intervention effects differ according to school location, socioeconomic characteristics, or other contextual factors. The results will contribute to the evidence base for digital capacity-building strategies in school health programs and provide guidance for policymakers seeking scalable and sustainable approaches to improve oral health promotion through educational systems.