Validity of the Brazilian version of the Venham's behavior rating scale.

BACKGROUND

Venham's Behavior Rating Scale (VBRS) is a measure of uncooperative behavior developed to assess children's responses to dental stress.

AIM

To evaluate the validity of the Brazilian version of the VBRS.

DESIGN

Children aged 7-13 years were invited to participate in this study. Child behavior was concurrently assessed with both the VBRS and the Frankl Scale. A receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was plotted to determine the cut-off points of the Brazilian version of the VBRS. Criterion validity was determined using Spearman's correlation coefficient. Discriminant validity was tested before and after scale dichotomization.

RESULTS

A total of 265 children participated in this study. According to the ROC curve, the ≥1 cut-off point was best for this population (SENS 97.4%; SPEC 94.7%). The Brazilian version of the VBRS was significantly correlated with the Frankl Scale (r -0.69; <0.001, r -0.72; <0.001). Child behavior assessed was related to complexity of treatment, type of procedure, use of local anesthesia, and dental fear.

CONCLUSIONS

The results provide strong evidence for the validity of Brazilian version of the VBRS in behavior assessment of children aged 7-13 years during dental care.