Abstract
Aim: This study aimed to evaluate a new questionnaire on Iranian adolescents attitudes toward oral self- care.
Methods: The study took place in Isfahan city in 2015. After pooling possible questions, the primary version of the questionnaire was checked by an expert panel in order to determine its content validity index. The face validity was evaluated in a convenience sample of 20 fifteen year-olds. A power calculation was then performed . It indicated that a sample of 200 randomly selected adolescents aged 13 - 18 years would give a with 95% confidence level that it was representative of the population. However, in the event, due to local constraints, the sample of 200 13-18 year- olds was non-randomized and purposefully selected to include 13 - 18 year-olds from four areas of the city, the inhabitants of two of which were predominantly of high socioeconomic status and in the other two, of low socio-economic status. Ethical approval and informed consent were achieved prior to study. The reliability coefficients and the attitude score were calculated. The construct validity was evaluated using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. A range of statistical tests, which will be described in a poster were applied to the results.
Results: The final version of the questionnaire included 40 items which achieved a Cronbach’s Alpha score of 0.7. One hundred and ninety six (98%) completed the questionnaire. They had a mean age of 15.9 years and a mean attitude score of 112±12.1 out of a possible a possible score of 160 . The correlation between attitude score and social status was statistically significant (p=0.03). In exploratory factor analysis the Kaiser-Meyer- Olkin measure of sampling accuracy was over 0.6 and the Bartlett test was significant and five factors accounted for about 38%of the total variance. The suggested model consisted of sub-domains like values (appearance, function), affects (positive, negative, neutral, threatening life), parent’s effect, social impact and knowledge of caries was acceptable after applying the confirmatory factor analysis, with a moderate goodness of fit.
Conclusions: In this study, the “attitudes toward oral self care “questionnaire for Iranian adolescents was reliable and valid in content and construct.
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