Jean J Schensul1, Apoorva Salvi1, Toan Ha2, Susan Reisine3, Jianghong Li1, Yacihuilca Moni4. 1. Institute for Community Research, Hartford, Connecticut. 2. Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut. 3. University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut. 4. William James College, Boston, Massachusetts.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: This paper describes a new scale to measure worries about self-management of oral hygiene in low-income older adults. BACKGROUND: Oral hygiene that prevents oral diseases and worsening of chronic conditions improves with instruction, but other cognitive/emotional factors impede oral hygiene practice especially among older adults. Many scales measure dental anxiety, but none measures oral hygiene self-management worries. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Formative research with diverse older adults 55-95 in low-income housing identified scale items. A 23-item scale was tested in a pilot intervention study (n = 84) and formalised with a new sample (N = 331). RESULTS: In both studies, PCA/factor analysis produced two subscales: (a) worries about cleaning teeth and (b) consequences of cleaning. Chronbach's alpha coefficient evaluated internal consistency, and Pearson's r and Kendall tau/Spearman's rho evaluated scale predictability, convergent and divergent validity. The scale and subscales showed good internal consistency in both studies (over 0.90) and stability T0 0.90; T1: 0.90). In the larger sample, statistically significant correlations between the scale, subscales; plaque score, and similar scales (perceived risk of oral health problems, and fears of oral diseases) demonstrated convergent validity. For divergent validity, the worries scale, not the GOHAI, a similar scale measuring oral health life quality, was associated with Plaque Score. Each scale was associated with different mediators suggesting different constructs. CONCLUSION: The overall scale has good internal consistency, test-retest reliability, predictability and convergent and divergent validity. It captures a psycho-emotional construct useful in oral health research and hygiene education with older adults.
OBJECTIVE: This paper describes a new scale to measure worries about self-management of oral hygiene in low-income older adults. BACKGROUND: Oral hygiene that prevents oral diseases and worsening of chronic conditions improves with instruction, but other cognitive/emotional factors impede oral hygiene practice especially among older adults. Many scales measure dental anxiety, but none measures oral hygiene self-management worries. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Formative research with diverse older adults 55-95 in low-income housing identified scale items. A 23-item scale was tested in a pilot intervention study (n = 84) and formalised with a new sample (N = 331). RESULTS: In both studies, PCA/factor analysis produced two subscales: (a) worries about cleaning teeth and (b) consequences of cleaning. Chronbach's alpha coefficient evaluated internal consistency, and Pearson's r and Kendall tau/Spearman's rho evaluated scale predictability, convergent and divergent validity. The scale and subscales showed good internal consistency in both studies (over 0.90) and stability T0 0.90; T1: 0.90). In the larger sample, statistically significant correlations between the scale, subscales; plaque score, and similar scales (perceived risk of oral health problems, and fears of oral diseases) demonstrated convergent validity. For divergent validity, the worries scale, not the GOHAI, a similar scale measuring oral health life quality, was associated with Plaque Score. Each scale was associated with different mediators suggesting different constructs. CONCLUSION: The overall scale has good internal consistency, test-retest reliability, predictability and convergent and divergent validity. It captures a psycho-emotional construct useful in oral health research and hygiene education with older adults.
Authors: Jean Schensul; Susan Reisine; Apoorva Salvi; Toan Ha; James Grady; Jianghong Li Journal: BMC Oral Health Date: 2021-07-21 Impact factor: 2.757