Development and validation of the Burdens in Oral Surgery Questionnaire (BiOS-Q)

Patients' perspective is increasingly re-cognised as an important outcome measure in oral surgery. However, how patients perceive the surgical treatment cannot be assessed currently. This would be an important indicator for process-related quality of care. It was the aim to develop and to validate an instrument for the assessment of patient-based measures of process-related quality of care in oral surgery. The new Burdens in Oral Surgery Questionnaire (BiOS-Q) was developed in two steps in patients undergoing oral surgery. First, an item pool was created using semi-structured interviews in 90 patients. Second, a preliminary version was applied in 297 consecutively recruited patients to assess redundancy, completion rates, face validity, difficulty and distribution. Psychometric properties of the final version of the questionnaire were evaluated. The BiOS-Q consists of 16 items and showed satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0·84) and excellent test-retest reliability (ICC = 0·90). The questionnaire's mean score was significantly correlated with dentists' burdens (r = 0·44) and patients' overall satisfaction (r = 0·39) indicating sufficient validity. The BiOS-Q is a reliable and valid instrument for the assessment of patient-based process-related quality of care in oral surgery.