Dentistry

Abstract

Reliability and Validity of the Nepali Version of Patient’s Expectations Orthodontic Treatment Questionnaire

Singh VP, Singh RK, Roy DK and Kumar A

Introduction: Identifying patient’s expectations for treatment has positive impact on both clinician and the patient. It helps to build a good rapport between them. It reduces the level of discomfort and avoids pitfalls on the part of the clinician. A valid and reliable method to measure patient’s expectation is very useful in carrying out any treatment. This study was designed to develop a valid and reliable Nepali version of patient’s expectation of orthodontic treatment questionnaire.
Material and methodology: A convenience sample of 390 subjects with an age group of 18-28 (mean 28.88 ±1.6) years (Male=172, Female=178) reporting for Orthodontic treatment were included for this study. Reliability of the scale was tested by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and coefficient of correlation. The retest reliability was also tested
using correlation coefficient between items and scale. Construct validity was tested by means of a cognitive interview which was conducted among 100 participants.
Results: The questionnaire demonstrated good internal consistency with over all Cronbach’s alpha of 0.72. There was a good correlation among items with the corrected item total correlation of >0.3 achieved in over 50% of the items. Test- retest analysis was conducted on 290 subjects and the responses recorded were statistically significant using spearman’s correlation coefficient suggesting a good reliability. The construct validity was assessed by measuring the agreement between questionnaire filled by the subject and filled by the researcher on the basis of cognitive interview of the same subjects. There was a good level of agreement for all the items ranging from 0.83 to 0.98.
Conclusion: A reliable and valid Nepali version of patient’s expectation of orthodontic treatment was developed.