A preliminary investigation on digital surveillance literacy among dental academicians

Introduction: Since 2013 Digital Surveillance (DS) studies have been used in dentistry for infoveillance/infodemiology and understanding internet users' activity in this area. This preliminary investigation was done to understand dental academicians' awareness about DS as a research methodology tool. Methods: In the first phase, two Delphi rounds were conducted to identify the most frequently used terms related to DV. In the second phase, dental academics were interviewed and presented with the list of terms. An assessment tool based on word recognition, knowledge, and comprehension was applied. Responses of the 31 participants were tabulated for statistical analysis. Results: The paired t-test values revealed no statistically significant difference between recognition, knowledge, and comprehension of the presented terms (p > 0.05). 'Cross-sectional analysis', 'Google Scholar', and 'Datasets' were the most clearly comprehended, whereas 'real time', 'time trend analysis', and 'predictive/forecast models' were the least recognized. Conclusion: Preliminary results suggest a lack of awareness of DS among dental academicians.