Nair Lekshmy S R, George Sageena, Nujum Zinia Thajudeen, Anandaraj S, Geetha S, Salim Shiad
Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, PMS College of Dental Science and Research, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
Department of Public Health, School of Public Health, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
J Indian Soc Pedod Prev Dent. 2025 Apr 1;43(2):195-201. doi: 10.4103/jisppd.jisppd_149_25. Epub 2025 Jun 30.
This study aimed to develop a simplified version of the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children (SDSC) by evaluating expert consensus on content validity and factorial alignment. The primary goal was to retain essential items while ensuring practicality for clinical and research use in pediatric populations, especially in dentistry.
A panel of experts assessed 26 SDSC items using various psychometric measures, including Content Validity Ratio (CVR), Item-level Content Validity Index (I-CVI), Factorial Validity Index (FVI), Inter-rater Agreement (IRA), and Fleiss' Kappa. Items were evaluated for relevance, clarity, and alignment with theoretical domains. The items that demonstrated strong validity, expert agreement, and alignment were retained, while those with lower scores or cross-domain overlaps were considered for exclusion.
The analysis revealed high content validity, with most items achieving CVR and I-CVI values above the acceptable thresholds. The FVI indicated strong factorial validity across all domains, with no major discrepancies in domain assignments. IRA and Fleiss' Kappa further confirmed the consistency of expert ratings. A simplified version of the SDSC was developed, retaining core items addressing sleep latency, night awakenings, breathing disturbances, and daytime somnolence.
This study provides a refined version of the SDSC with improved psychometric properties, suitable for pediatric dentistry applications. The simplified tool ensures that relevant sleep disturbances are effectively captured, offering a practical screening tool for clinicians in both pediatric and dental settings. The findings underline the importance of expert consensus in developing valid and reliable tools for the assessment of pediatric sleep disorders.
本研究旨在通过评估专家对内容效度和因子一致性的共识，开发儿童睡眠障碍量表（SDSC）的简化版本。主要目标是保留基本项目，同时确保其在儿科人群（尤其是牙科领域）临床和研究应用中的实用性。
一组专家使用多种心理测量方法评估了26个SDSC项目，包括内容效度比（CVR）、项目级内容效度指数（I-CVI）、因子效度指数（FVI）、评分者间一致性（IRA）和Fleiss' Kappa。对项目的相关性、清晰度以及与理论领域的一致性进行了评估。保留表现出强效度、专家一致性和一致性的项目，而得分较低或存在跨领域重叠的项目则考虑排除。
分析显示出高内容效度，大多数项目的CVR和I-CVI值高于可接受阈值。FVI表明所有领域均具有强因子效度，领域分配无重大差异。IRA和Fleiss' Kappa进一步证实了专家评分的一致性。开发了SDSC的简化版本，保留了涉及睡眠潜伏期、夜间觉醒、呼吸障碍和日间嗜睡的核心项目。
本研究提供了一个具有改进心理测量特性的SDSC精炼版本，适用于儿科牙科应用。简化工具可确保有效捕捉相关睡眠障碍，为儿科和牙科环境中的临床医生提供实用的筛查工具。研究结果强调了专家共识在开发评估儿童睡眠障碍有效且可靠工具方面的重要性。
