Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS). Translation and validation in Spanish language

Health is currently recognized as lying in the individual process rooted in genes, personal habits, the social model and the understanding of the ideological standpoint from which it is viewed. The aim of this study was to validate the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS) for use in Latin American communities, in order to demonstrate its efficacy for determining the impact of dental condition on children under 5 years of age and their families. The ECOHIS explores two domains: impact on children (9 questions) and on families (4 questions). Validation in Spanish was done in four stages. Stage I included translation and back-translation of the questionnaire (English-Spanish-English). Stage II was a pilot test on families in Venezuela to test stability (test-retest) and make semantic adjustments. Stage III included validation of the questionnaire applied to a Venezuelan sample (n = 50) and two Argentine samples (A and B, made up of families with and without social risk, respectively; n = 95), and consisted of statistical analysis to check the questionnaire's internal consistency and discriminant capacity. In the final stage, parents were given feedback on the results and significance of each domain in the questionnaire. From the results of this study it may be concluded that the Spanish version of the ECOHIS was reliable and valid for administering to populations with homogeneous social risk, and that parents without social risk factors (AC/B) have significantly greater perception of the impact of oral health on the family's quality of life. The trends recorded suggest that (a) larger samples should be used, including variables for diagnosing social vulnerability or general risk, (b) the association with dental condition should be established by applying indicators to discriminate distinct cut-off points in the dental caries process and (c) it should be ascertained whether there are changes in perception of the impact on quality of life before and after dental treatments, including impact on general health condition.