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Updated: Sep 26, 2025
Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
Development and validation of a novel Middle childhood oral health impact scale (MCOHIS)
Sharath Asokan1, P R Geetha Priya1, Sudhandra Viswanath1
1Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, KSR Institute of Dental Science and Research, Tiruchengode, Tamil Nadu, India.
Insights
A new scale, the Middle Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (MCOHIS), was developed and validated for Indian children aged 6-9 years. This age-specific tool reliably assesses oral health-related quality of life in young children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Dentistry
- Public Health
- Health Outcomes Research
Background:
- Assessing oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in children is crucial for understanding their overall well-being.
- Existing tools may not be specifically validated for the unique cultural and demographic context of Indian children.
- A validated scale is needed to accurately measure OHRQoL in middle childhood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a novel Middle Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (MCOHIS).
- To create an age-specific tool for 6- to 9-year-old children in India.
- To ensure the scale accurately reflects the oral health impact on children's quality of life.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional study involving sequential phases for development and validation.
- Content validation by a panel of pediatric dentists and formulation of a 20-item scale.
- Concurrent and discriminant validation using child self-reports and caregiver proxy reports, with statistical analysis including Cohen's kappa and Cronbach's alpha.
Main Results:
- The MCOHIS demonstrated adequate content validity with a Scale Level Content Validity Index / Average score of 0.94.
- Statistically significant inter-rater reliability was found between child and caregiver reports.
- The scale showed good concurrent validity (Rho=0.712), discriminant validity (P < 0.001), internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=0.75), and test-retest reliability (coefficient=0.98).
Conclusions:
- The Middle Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (MCOHIS) is a valid and reliable tool.
- MCOHIS is specifically designed for assessing the OHRQoL of Indian children aged 6-9 years.
- This validated scale can aid in better understanding and managing oral health impacts in this age group.
Purpose:
The study was planned to develop and validate a novel middle childhood oral health impact scale (MCOHIS) for 6- to 9-year-old children in India.
Methodology:
A cross-sectional study design was employed to develop and validate MCOHIS in the sequential phases. A panel of ten pediatric dentists evaluated a pool of 36 items corresponding to the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) of children. MCOHIS with 20 items under five domains was formulated and content validation was done. Cohen's kappa statistics was employed to measure the concordance between the child's self-report and the caregiver's proxy report. Concurrent validation was done among 130 participants from 13 districts of Tamil Nadu state, India. Discriminant validity was checked among another sample of 60 participants. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability of MCOHIS were assessed using Cronbach's alpha and Kappa statistics respectively.
Results:
MCOHIS had adequate content validation with Scale Level Content Validity Index / Average score of 0.94 for relevance. There was a statistically significant inter-rater reliability observed between the child's self-report and caregivers' proxy report in all items with a moderate to substantial agreement. Concurrent validation showed a statistically significant positive correlation with a Rho value of 0.712. There was a statistically significant difference noted in overall discriminant validity (P < 0.001). Acceptable internal consistency reliability was observed with Cronbach's alpha value of 0.75. Test-retest reliability showed a high stability coefficient of 0.98.
Conclusions:
MCOHIS was found to be a valid and reliable age-specific tool for assessing the OHRQoL of Indian children aged 6-9 years.
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