Development of the KAP-ASD Questionnaire to Assess Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Related to Ageism Among...

This study aimed to develop and validate a questionnaire to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAPs) related to ageism among dentists in Brazil, with a focus on the dental care of older adults.

This is a quantitative, exploratory, descriptive, and cross-sectional study. The development and validation of the KAP-Ageism Scale for Dentists (KAP-ASD) instrument followed four stages: (1) the questionnaire was developed on the basis of a scoping literature review of the construct to be assessed; (2) content validity was evaluated by five experts who reviewed the initial draft for language clarity, practical relevance, and theoretical significance; (3) the questionnaire was administered to the target population, Brazilian dentists, to collect data; and (4) EFA results were used to refine the instrument, providing evidence of its validity and reliability for the final version.

The instrument initially had 27 items, which were reduced to 25 after expert review. Following the EFA, the questionnaire was reduced to 13 items across 3 factors: Knowledge, attitudes, and practices. The final structure explained 57.9% of the total variance. Reliability indices, along with data adjustments, indicate that the final version of the questionnaire has good internal consistency.

While the KAP-ASD requires further refinement due to several identified limitations, it was shown to be a valid and reliable tool suitable for use in geriatric dentistry research.