[Psychometric assessment of the German version of the Index of Dental Anxiety and Fear (IDAF-4C+) - a new instrument for measuring dental anxiety].

JM Armfield introduced the questionnaire "Index of Dental Anxiety and Fear" with the intention of giving research into this complex area a broader theoretical base. A German translation of the IDAF-4C+ was given to 287 dental patients in Germany, of which 188 were recruited from a Dental Fears Clinic. Together with the IDAF-4C+ the patients also filled out the Dental Anxiety Scale, the Dental Fear Survey and Beck's Anxiety Inventory. The good reliability of the IDAF core dental anxiety and fear module, that was found in the original Australian research, was found to be even better in the translated version. The factorial validity of the fear- and phobia module could be confirmed, the stimulus module only partly. With the translation of the IDAF-4C+ there is for the first time a questionnaire available in the German language that not only measures the extent of the dental fears but also diagnoses the anxiety-causing stimuli and intends to differentiate between dental fear and phobia. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.