Translation and Validation of Telugu Version of the Caries Impacts and Experiences Questionnaire for Children...

The pivotal role of self-reported measures in clinical caries data and children's oral health-related quality of life cannot be ignored.

This study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Telugu-translated caries impacts and experiences questionnaire for children (CARIES-QC/Te) among 12-year-old schoolchildren in Hyderabad city.

The forward-backward translated CARIES-QC/Te was pilot tested in 30 children. The tested questionnaire was administered to 598 children, followed by a clinical oral examination to evaluate dental caries. Internal consistency was determined using Cronbach's α and intraclass correlation. The factor structure of CARIES-QC/Te was analyzed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Furthermore, the questionnaire was correlated with a global rating question to assess its convergent validity. In addition, discriminant validity was evaluated based on the presence or absence of dental caries.

The mean CARIES-QC/Te score was 0.43 ± 0.60, and the mean caries experience for the study population was 1.8 ± 0.81. Based on the global rating question, Cronbach's α score and intraclass correlation coefficient for overall CARIES-QC/Te were 0.934 and 0.881, respectively. The polychoric correlation matrix of the CARIES-QC/Te questionnaire ranged from 0.424 to 0.652. The EFA results of CARIES-QC/T suggested a one-factor solution and explained 51.7% of the total variance. Moreover, CARIES-QC/Te demonstrated good discriminant validity for those with and without dental caries.

The results indicate that CARIES-QC/Te exhibits good validity and acceptable reliability and could benefit public health research in Telugu-speaking populations.