Development of KROHL, a tool for evaluating oral health knowledge

Area of Science:

• Oral Health
• Health Literacy Assessment
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Assessing oral health knowledge is crucial for effective patient education and intervention.
• Existing measures may not fully capture the depth of understanding across various oral health domains.
• The development of validated tools is essential for accurate knowledge assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the Knowledge Related to Oral Health Literacy (KROHL) scale.
• To determine the inter-rater reliability, internal consistency, and discriminant validity of the KROHL scale.
• To assess the relationship between the KROHL scale and existing measures of oral health literacy.

Main Methods:

• The KROHL questionnaire, featuring open-ended questions on common oral conditions, was administered to 144 volunteers.
• Data analysis included inter-rater reliability (Kappa), internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha), and correlational analyses.
• Comparisons were made between patient and dental student groups, and with existing health literacy measures.

Main Results:

• The KROHL scale demonstrated good to excellent inter-rater reliability.
• The full scale score showed good internal consistency, though individual subscales did not.
• Scores were significantly lower in patients than dental students and correlated with education level, but not with other health literacy measures.

Conclusions:

• The KROHL scale is an innovative, reliable, and valid instrument for assessing overall oral health knowledge.
• Findings support its use in customizing educational interventions for diverse populations.
• Further validation across multiple settings is recommended.