Coolidge Trilby, Chambers Mark A, Garcia Laura J, Heaton Lisa J, Coldwell Susan E
Dental Public Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
BMC Oral Health. 2008 May 12;8:15. doi: 10.1186/1472-6831-8-15.
It would be useful to have psychometrically-sound measures of dental fear for Hispanics, who comprise the largest ethnic minority in the United States. We report on the psychometric properties of Spanish-language versions of two common adult measures of dental fear (Modified Dental Anxiety Scale, MDAS; Dental Fear Survey, DFS), as well as a measure of fear of dental injections (Needle Survey, NS).
Spanish versions of the measures were administered to 213 adults attending Hispanic cultural festivals, 31 students (who took the questionnaire twice, for test-retest reliability), and 100 patients at a dental clinic. We also administered the questionnaire to 136 English-speaking adults at the Hispanic festivals and 58 English-speaking students at the same college where we recruited the Spanish-speaking students, to compare the performance of the English and Spanish measures in the same populations.
The internal reliabilities of the Spanish MDAS ranged from 0.80 to 0.85. Values for the DFS ranged from 0.92 to 0.96, and values for the NS ranged from 0.92 to 0.94. The test-retest reliabilities (intra-class correlations) for the three measures were 0.69, 0.86, and 0.94 for the MDAS, DFS, and NS, respectively. The three measures showed moderate correlations with one another in all three samples, providing evidence for construct validity. Patients with higher scores on the measures were rated as being more anxious during dental procedures. Similar internal reliabilities and correlations were found in the English-version analyses. The test-retest values were also similar in the English students for the DFS and NS; however, the English test-retest value for the MDAS was better than that found in the Spanish students.
We found evidence for the internal reliability, construct validity, and criterion validity for the Spanish versions of the three measures, and evidence for the test-retest reliability of the Spanish versions of the DFS and NS.
对于占美国最大少数族裔的西班牙裔而言，拥有心理测量学上可靠的牙科恐惧测量方法会很有用。我们报告了两种常见的成人牙科恐惧测量方法（改良牙科焦虑量表，MDAS；牙科恐惧调查，DFS）的西班牙语版本以及一种牙科注射恐惧测量方法（针头调查，NS）的心理测量特性。
将这些测量方法的西班牙语版本施用于213名参加西班牙裔文化节的成年人、31名学生（他们两次填写问卷，用于重测信度）以及一家牙科诊所的100名患者。我们还在西班牙裔文化节上对136名说英语的成年人以及在我们招募说西班牙语学生的同一所大学的58名说英语的学生进行了问卷调查，以比较英语和西班牙语测量方法在相同人群中的表现。
西班牙语MDAS的内部信度范围为0.80至0.85。DFS的值范围为0.92至0.96，NS的值范围为0.92至0.94。MDAS、DFS和NS这三种测量方法的重测信度（组内相关性）分别为0.69、0.86和0.94。这三种测量方法在所有三个样本中彼此之间都显示出中等程度的相关性，为结构效度提供了证据。在这些测量方法上得分较高的患者在牙科治疗过程中被评定为更焦虑。在英语版本分析中发现了类似的内部信度和相关性。DFS和NS在说英语的学生中的重测值也相似；然而，MDAS在说英语的学生中的重测值比在说西班牙语的学生中要好。
我们发现了这三种测量方法的西班牙语版本具有内部信度、结构效度和效标效度的证据，以及DFS和NS的西班牙语版本具有重测信度的证据。
