Negative cognitions of dental phobics: reliability and validity of the dental cognitions questionnaire

This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Dental Cognitions Questionnaire (DCQ). This measure contains 38 items and assesses both frequency and believability of negative cognitions related to dental treatment. The results indicated that the DCQ has good internal consistency, high test-retest reliability, and satisfactory concurrent validity, as indicated by positive associations with indices of anxiety and other cognitive measures (n = 180). Factor analysis revealed a one factor solution. Furthermore, the DCQ discriminated strongly between dental phobics (n = 85) and non-phobic Ss (n = 70). Moreover, it was found that combinations of DCQ items have substantially more explanatory power than did a measure of dental trait anxiety, explaining up to 70.7% of the variance in state anxiety ratings in the dental situation. Overall, it appears that dental phobics have many extremely negative beliefs and self-statements about themselves and about what might happen during treatment. Since certain cognitions seem to play a critical role in fear evocation, diminishing catastrophizing ideation may be an important determinant of adjustment to dental treatment and reduction of psychological distress.