title: Measurement of social support, community and trust in dentistry.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Relationships among people at work have previously been found to contribute to the perception of having a good work. The aim of the present paper was to develop scales measuring aspects of social support, trust, and community among dentists, and to evaluate psychometric properties of the scales.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 2008, a questionnaire was sent to 1,835 general dental practitioners randomly selected from the dental associations in Sweden and Denmark. The response rate was 68% after two reminders. Principal Component Analysis was applied to 14 items and scales were established based on the resulting factors. Internal consistency was evaluated by Cronbach's alpha. Differential Item Functioning (DIF) with respect to gender, nationality and employment sector was analysed using ordinal logistic regression methods. Construct validity was assessed in relation to self-rated health and a range of work satisfaction outcomes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The percentage of missing values on the items was low (range 0.7%-3.8%). Two scales (range 0-100) were established to measure 'Community with Trust'(nine items, mean = 79.2 [SD = 13.4], Cronbach's alpha = 0.89) and 'Collegial Support'(five items, mean = 70.4 [SD = 20.8], Cronbach's alpha = 0.89). DIF of only minor importance was found which supported cultural equivalence. The two scales were weakly positively correlated with each other. 'Community with Trust' was in general more strongly correlated with work satisfaction variables than 'Collegial Support' was.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Stability and internal consistency of the scales were considered as satisfactory. Content validity and construct validity were considered as good. Further validation in other populations is recommended.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Public Health, Faculty of Odontology, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark. hanne.berthelsen@mah.se
authors.forename: Hanne
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Berthelsen
authors.forename: Jan Hyld
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Pejtersen
authors.forename: Björn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Söderfeldt
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D003625:Data Collection; D003718:Denmark; D003813:Dentistry; D003815:Dentists / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D012944:Social Support; D013548:Sweden; D035502:Trust