A structured interview for assessing dental fear.
Ninety-six students responded to a dental fear questionnaire. Several weeks later they responded to a structured Dental Fear Interview and repeated the questionnaire. Fifteen additional students also responded to the interview and questionnaire. Each of two raters derived fear intensity- and adaptive-impairment scores from each set of interview notes. Inter-rater correlations for both intensity and impairment were high. Interview fear and impairment ratings correlated highly with same-day fear questionnaire results. The interview ratings also discriminated high from low scorers on the initial questionnaire. The Dental Fear Interview is recommended for research and for encouraging clinical development.
D003729:Dental Care / Q000523:psychology*; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales