Construction and validation of the quality of life measure for dentine hypersensitivity (DHEQ).
OBJECTIVE
To develop and validate a condition specific measure of oral health-related quality of life for dentine hypersensitivity (Dentine Hypersensitivity Experience Questionnaire, DHEQ).


METHODS
Questionnaire construction used a multi-staged impact approach and an explicit theoretical model. Qualitative and quantitative development and validation included in-depth interviews, focus groups and cross-sectional questionnaire studies in a general population (n=160) and a clinical sample (n=108).


RESULTS
An optimized DHEQ questionnaire containing 48 items has been developed to describe the pain, a scale to capture subjective impacts of dentine hypersensitivity, a global oral health rating and a scale to record effects on life overall. The impact scale had high values for internal reliability (nearly all item-total correlations >0.4 and Cronbach's α=0.86). Intra-class correlation coefficient for test-retest reliability was 0.92. The impact scale was strongly correlated to global oral health ratings and effects on life overall. These results were similar when DHEQ was validated in a clinical sample.


CONCLUSIONS
DHEQ shows good psychometric properties in both a general population and clinical sample. Its use can further our understanding of the subjective impacts of dentine sensitivity.
Boiko
Olga V
OV
University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
Baker
Sarah R
SR
Gibson
Barry J
BJ
Locker
David
D
Sufi
Farzana
F
Barlow
Ashley P S
AP
Robinson
Peter G
PG
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003807:Dentin Sensitivity / Q000523:psychology*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom; D055815:Young Adult