Validating OHIP-5 for Equitable Oral Healthcare in Nigeria.

Area of Science:

• Oral health research
• Health equity
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Healthcare access in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) faces barriers, including language.
• Oral health is crucial but often excluded from universal health coverage.
• Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) like the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-5) assess oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL).

Purpose of the Study:

• Translate and culturally adapt the OHIP-5 into Yoruba (OHIP-5Yor).
• Evaluate the psychometric properties of the OHIP-5Yor.
• Assess its utility for enhancing patient-centered oral healthcare access in LMICs.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional survey of 143 adults at Nigerian dental centers.
• Forward-backward translation and pilot testing of the OHIP-5.
• Psychometric evaluation including internal consistency, validity, and factor analysis.

Main Results:

• The OHIP-5Yor demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.67) and supportive construct validity.
• Structural validity requires further investigation in larger, diverse populations.
• Preliminary findings support the reliability and validity of the Yoruba version.

Conclusions:

• The OHIP-5Yor is a reliable and valid tool for assessing OHRQoL in Nigerian dental patients.
• It can address equity gaps by enabling non-English speakers to participate in oral health assessments.
• Implementing such tools can strengthen oral healthcare access in multilingual LMICs.