Introduction: There has been no valid and reliable instrument available to measure the impact of oral health on the quality of life of Slovenian preschool children. The main aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the validity and reliability of the first Slovenian instrument assessing Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) preschool children: the ECOHIS-SVN.
Methods: The ECOHIS-SVN was developed using forward-backward translations and with the participation of children aged under six and their parents. The children's teeth were examined, and parents were asked to complete questionnaires, including the ECOHIS-SVN. The internal consistency of ECOHIS-SVN was evaluated through the calculation of Cronbach's alpha (α), test-retest reliability with an intra-class-correlation coefficient (ICC), convergent validity with Spearman's rank correlation (r) and criterion validity with the Mann-Whitney test. The association between the ECOHIS-SVN score and parents' age, educational level, self-reported oral health and OHIP-SVN14 was estimated using multiple linear regression.
Results: In the study, 255 children participated, with a mean age of 4.8 years (±0.8). The ECOHIS-SVN questionnaire was completed by the parents of all 255 children and re-filled by 71 parents. The results of the total ECOHIS-SVN scale include α=0.85, ICC=0.85, and r=0.6-0.75. A statistically significant association was found between the ECOHIS-SVN and parents' age and between the ECOHIS-SVN and parents' OHIP-SVN14 in the whole group and in the subgroup of children with no teeth affected by cavitated caries (dmft=0) (p=0.025, p=0.028), respectively.
Conclusion: ECOHIS-SVN enables further studies to assess the OHRQoL of preschool children in the Slovenian-speaking population.
Uvod: Za merjenje vpliva ustnega zdravja na kakovost življenja slovenskih predšolskih otrok doslej nismo imeli veljavnega in zanesljivega instrumenta. Glavni namen študije je bil razviti in ovrednotiti veljavnost in zanesljivost prvega slovenskega vprašalnika za ocenjevanje z ustnim zdravjem povezane kakovosti življenja predšolskih otrok, poimenovanega ECOHIS-SVN.
Metode: ECOHIS-SVN smo razvili s prevodom vprašalnika ECOHIS. K sodelovanju smo povabili vse otroke, stare do šest let, in njihove starše. Otrokom staršev, ki so pristali na sodelovanje, smo pregledali zobe, starše pa prosili, da izpolnijo vprašalnike, vključno z ECOHIS-SVN. Notranja konsistentnost ECOHIS-SVN je bila ovrednotena s Cronbach alfa (α), zanesljivost s koeficientom intraklasne korelacije (ICC), konvergentna in kriterijska veljavnost pa s Spearmanovim koeficientom korelacije rangov (r) in s testom Mann-Whitney. Z multiplo linearno regresijo smo ocenili povezave med rezultatom ECOHIS-SVN in starostjo, izobrazbeno stopnjo, ustnim zdravjem, medtem ko so bile OHIP-SVN14 staršev ocenjene z multiplo linearno regresijo.
Rezultati: V raziskavi je sodelovalo 255 otrok, povprečno starih 4,8 (± 0,8) let. Starši vseh 255 otrok so izpolnili vprašalnike, 71 staršev je izpolnilo ECOHIS-SVN vprašalnik dvakrat. Rezultati veljavnosti in zanesljivosti ECOHIS-SVN vključujejo α = 0,85, ICC = 0,85 in r = 0,6-0,75. V celotni preiskovani skupini smo ugotovili statistično značilno povezavo med ECOHIS-SVN in starostjo staršev (p = 0,025), v podskupini otrok s kep = 0 pa med ECOHIS-SVN in OHIP-SVN14 staršev (p = 0,028).
Zaključek: ECOHIS-SVN omogoča nadaljnje študije ocenjevanja z oralnim zdravjem povezane kvalitete življenja predšolskih otrok v slovensko govoreči populaciji.
Keywords: Oral health; Oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL); Preschool children; Questionnaires; Reliability; Validity.
© 2023 Lenka LIKAR OSTRC et al., published by Sciendo.