Zia Nighat, Doss Jennifer Geraldine, Danaee Mahmoud, John Jacob, Panezai Jeneen
Department of Community Oral Health & Clinical Prevention, Faculty of Dentistry Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
BMC Oral Health. 2025 Aug 21;25(1):1353. doi: 10.1186/s12903-025-06745-1.
Green dentistry promotes sustainable practices in oral healthcare. As environmental challenges intensify, integrating eco-friendly principles into dental education and practice becomes increasingly important. To advance sustainability in oral health settings, it is crucial to comprehend the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of dental professionals and students. Despite growing interest, there is scarcity of research on green dentistry and a lack of standardized, validated tools to measure KAP makes it more difficult to compare studies. The rationale for this study was to conduct a psychometric analysis of a KAP questionnaire designed to assess eco-friendly clinical dental practices among dental school personnel and students in a dental school of Karachi.
A 43-item questionnaire on green dentistry, adapted from existing green models and literature, and further validated through expert consultation and psychometric analysis, covers knowledge, attitudes, and practices. This cross-sectional pilot study involved 150 dental school personnel and students from the clinical side of an institution, using a self-administered, web-based questionnaire based on the Green Dental Model (GDM). The construct validity of 'knowledge' and 'practice' sections of the questionnaire was assessed using Partial Least Squares- Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) whereas Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) to uncover the latent factor structure of the 'attitude' section.
Findings indicate that the model was identified as formative, with VIF values (< 5) indicating no multicollinearity. Through careful decision-making, almost all formative indicators were retained based on outer loads > 0.5. In EFA, factor loadings for the three extracted factors exceeded the reliability threshold. Factor 1 dealt with digital radiography and energy and water conservation; factor 2 involved waste management, recycling, and sterilization; and factor 3 represented green practices as a financial burden.
The instrument's construct validity and feasibility makes it a valuable resource for sustainability focused researchers and dental professionals. This study uses advanced statistical techniques intended to address the questionnaire's formative and reflective elements, improving the validity of assessment, a factor that was frequently overlooked in other studies on green dentistry. The distinctive contribution of this novel approach to the existing body of literature could facilitate potential research on the tool's responsiveness to interventions on KAP change.
绿色牙科倡导口腔医疗保健中的可持续做法。随着环境挑战加剧，将环保原则融入牙科教育和实践变得越发重要。为推动口腔健康领域的可持续发展，了解牙科专业人员和学生的知识、态度和实践（KAP）至关重要。尽管关注度不断提高，但关于绿色牙科的研究匮乏，且缺乏标准化、经过验证的工具来衡量KAP，这使得研究之间的比较变得更加困难。本研究的目的是对一份KAP问卷进行心理测量分析，该问卷旨在评估卡拉奇一所牙科学院的牙科学院工作人员和学生的环保临床牙科实践。
一份关于绿色牙科的43项问卷，改编自现有的绿色模型和文献，并通过专家咨询和心理测量分析进一步验证，涵盖知识、态度和实践。这项横断面试点研究涉及该机构临床部门的150名牙科学院工作人员和学生，使用基于绿色牙科模型（GDM）的自填式网络问卷。问卷“知识”和“实践”部分的结构效度采用偏最小二乘结构方程模型（PLS-SEM）进行评估，而探索性因子分析（EFA）用于揭示“态度”部分的潜在因子结构。
研究结果表明该模型被确定为形成性模型，方差膨胀因子（VIF）值（<5）表明不存在多重共线性。通过仔细决策，几乎所有形成性指标都基于外负荷>0.5得以保留。在探索性因子分析中，提取的三个因子的因子负荷超过了可靠性阈值。因子1涉及数字放射摄影以及能源和水资源节约；因子2涉及废物管理、回收利用和消毒；因子3将绿色实践视为一种经济负担。
该工具的结构效度和可行性使其成为关注可持续发展的研究人员和牙科专业人员的宝贵资源。本研究使用先进的统计技术来处理问卷的形成性和反映性要素，提高了评估的效度，这是其他关于绿色牙科的研究中经常被忽视的一个因素。这种新颖方法对现有文献的独特贡献可能有助于对该工具对KAP变化干预措施反应性的潜在研究。
