Validation of a French version of the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS)
Author Information
Author(s): Li Shanshan, Veronneau Jacques, Allison Paul J
Primary Institution: Faculty of Dentistry, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Hypothesis
The ECOHIS should be able to discriminate between children in the community with no immediate need for dental care and those in a dental clinic with an expressed need for dental care.
Conclusion
The French language version of the ECOHIS is valid for assessing oral health impacts in young children.
Supporting Evidence
- Cronbach's alpha for the whole scale was 0.82, indicating good internal consistency.
- The intra-class correlation coefficient for test-retest reliability was 0.95.
- Mean ECOHIS scores varied significantly between community and clinic samples, supporting discriminant validity.
- Convergent validity was shown through significant correlations with global oral health ratings.
Takeaway
This study created a French version of a tool to measure how oral health affects young children's lives, and it works well.
Methodology
Data were collected from 398 parents in a community-based study and 94 parents in a clinic, with reliability and validity tested through various statistical methods.
Potential Biases
The convenience sampling may introduce bias as it does not represent a specific population.
Limitations
The samples were convenience-based and may not represent the general population; the instrument showed a floor effect with many participants reporting no impact.
Participant Demographics
Participants included parents of children aged 0-5 years, with a mix of genders and educational backgrounds.
Statistical Information
P-Value
0.004
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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