Anusha D, Keingadarane S, Caplan D J, Sivasamy S
Department of Public Health Dentistry, Indira Gandhi Institute of Dental Sciences, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Pondicherry, 605004, India.
Preventive and Community Dentistry, College of Dentistry, University of Iowa, Iowa, USA.
Eur Arch Paediatr Dent. 2025 May 2. doi: 10.1007/s40368-025-01031-8.
Oral health significantly impacts the quality of life, particularly in vulnerable populations such as children with intellectual disabilities (ID). Existing oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) instruments often fail to address the unique challenges faced by these children. This study aimed to develop and validate a novel instrument tailored to assess OHRQoL in intellectually disabled children aged 12-18 years.
The instrument was developed through a comprehensive process involving a literature review and thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with 22 mothers of intellectually disabled adolescents. Content validity was assessed using a panel of five experts from paediatric dentistry, public health dentistry, and research. Content Validity Ratio (CVR) and Content Validity Index (CVI) methods were employed to evaluate individual items and overall scale validity. Items with CVR ≥ 0.99 and I-CVI ≥ 0.78 were retained.
Out of 39 items, 37 achieved a CVR of 1.00, indicating strong consensus on their relevance. The overall S-CVI/UA was 0.864, and S-CVI/Ave was 0.986, reflecting excellent content validity. Two items with CVR scores of 0.2 were excluded. The overall clarity, relevance, and comprehensiveness scores were 2.89, 2.87, and 2.89, respectively.
The instrument demonstrates excellent content validity and comprehensively addresses oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) challenges in children aged 12-18 years with intellectual disabilities in the Pondicherry City, India. However, considering potential cultural and age-related differences, further studies are warranted to validate its applicability across diverse populations and younger age groups.
口腔健康对生活质量有重大影响，尤其是在诸如智障儿童等弱势群体中。现有的与口腔健康相关的生活质量（OHRQoL）工具往往无法解决这些儿童面临的独特挑战。本研究旨在开发并验证一种专门用于评估12至18岁智障儿童OHRQoL的新型工具。
该工具通过一个全面的过程开发而成，包括文献综述以及对22名智障青少年母亲进行定性访谈的主题分析。使用来自儿童牙科、公共卫生牙科和研究领域的五名专家组成的小组评估内容效度。采用内容效度比（CVR）和内容效度指数（CVI）方法来评估各个项目和整体量表的效度。保留CVR≥0.99且I-CVI≥0.78的项目。
在39个项目中，37个项目的CVR为1.00，表明对其相关性有强烈共识。整体S-CVI/UA为0.864，S-CVI/Ave为0.986，反映出良好的内容效度。两个CVR得分为0.2的项目被排除。整体清晰度、相关性和全面性得分分别为2.89、2.87和2.89。
该工具显示出良好的内容效度，并全面解决了印度本地治里市12至18岁智障儿童与口腔健康相关的生活质量（OHRQoL）挑战。然而，考虑到潜在的文化和年龄差异，有必要进一步开展研究以验证其在不同人群和更年轻年龄组中的适用性。
