Tamil Insights: Enhancing Oral Health Education (OHE) Through Questionnaire Validation

Area of Science:

• Oral Health Research
• Health Psychology
• Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Measures

Background:

• Assessing oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) is crucial for effective public health strategies.
• Existing OHRQoL tools may lack cultural and linguistic relevance for diverse populations.
• The Oral Health Effects (OHE) questionnaire is a widely used measure of OHRQoL.

Purpose of the Study:

• To translate and culturally adapt the OHE questionnaire into Tamil.
• To validate the Tamil version of the OHE questionnaire for use in Tamil-speaking populations.
• To ensure linguistic and cultural accuracy of the OHE questionnaire in a new cultural context.

Main Methods:

• Expert forward and backward translation of the OHE questionnaire by English-Tamil fluent adults.
• Expert panel review for conceptual equivalence and cultural appropriateness.
• Pilot testing with 30 participants for refinement.
• Internal consistency analysis (Cronbach's alpha) with 1500 participants.
• Test-retest reliability analysis (Pearson correlation) with 500 participants.

Main Results:

• The Tamil OHE questionnaire demonstrated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha >0.99).
• High test-retest reliability was observed (Pearson correlation coefficients >0.90 for most items).
• The translation and validation process confirmed linguistic and cultural accuracy.

Conclusions:

• The validated Tamil OHE questionnaire is a reliable and culturally appropriate instrument.
• This tool can be effectively used to evaluate OHRQoL in Tamil-speaking populations.
• Findings support the implementation of culturally sensitive oral health interventions in Tamil-speaking regions.