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Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
Development and validation of the new French ORALQUEST scale for evaluating feeding difficulties in young children
Béatrice Thouvenin1, Redha Ould-Ammar2, Lisa Ouss3
1General Paediatric Unit, Necker University Hospital, Paris, France.
Insights
A new parent-report questionnaire, ORALQUEST, effectively assesses feeding difficulties in young children. Its psychometric properties are strong, aiding in identifying children needing intervention.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric gastroenterology
- Developmental pediatrics
- Child psychology
Background:
- Feeding difficulties are prevalent in children, impacting development and well-being.
- Existing assessment tools may lack comprehensiveness or ease of use for professionals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate the Oral Health and Feeding Questionnaire (ORALQUEST), a parent-report tool for assessing feeding difficulties in children aged 9 months to 6 years.
- To evaluate the psychometric properties of ORALQUEST.
Main Methods:
- ORALQUEST was developed with four domains: eating behavior, oral skills, tactile/oral sensitivity, and family environment.
- A validation study included 338 children, assessing ORALQUEST's validity and reliability.
- Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis determined the optimal total-score cutoff.
Main Results:
- The 40-item ORALQUEST demonstrated excellent structural validity, internal consistency, and reliability.
- Convergent validity was good to acceptable.
- An optimal cutoff score of 27 was identified, with 85% of children with feeding difficulties scoring ≥27.
Conclusions:
- ORALQUEST is a psychometrically sound tool for assessing feeding difficulties in children, with or without somatic conditions.
- The questionnaire's four domains can inform tailored management strategies for pediatric feeding issues.
Objective:
Feeding difficulties are common in children with and without somatic conditions. Our objective was to develop a parent-report questionnaire (ORALQUEST) designed to be administered by a professional and to assess feeding difficulties in children aged 9 months to 6 years.
Methods:
The questionnaire explores four domains: eating behavior, oral skills, tactile and oral sensitivity, and family environment. A validation study was done in 338 children seen for feeding difficulties (n = 74) or receiving follow-up for conditions at risk for feeding difficulties (n = 264). We assessed the validity and reliability of the tool and we conducted a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis to determine the best total-score cutoff.
Results:
The final version of the ORALQUEST has 40 items and produces a total score and four sub-scores. Structural validity, internal consistency, and reliability were excellent; convergent validity was good to acceptable but was challenging to assess given the absence of similar tools for comparisons. The optimal total-score cutoff was 27. Among children seen for feeding difficulties, 85% had a total score ≥ 27. Total scores above the cutoff were less common than expected in children with chronic conditions (esophageal atresia, 39%; autism spectrum disorder, 42%; complex congenital heart disease, 29%; Robin sequence, 31%; and cleft palate, 18%).
Conclusion:
ORALQUEST for assessing feeding difficulties in young children demonstrated good psychometric properties in children with and without somatic conditions. The investigation by ORALQUEST of four domains may help to determine the best management strategy.
Trial Registration:
ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04133038 (Clinicaltrials.gov) https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04133038.
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