title: Adaptation and validation of the early childhood oral health impact scale in Lithuania.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS) is a parent--assessed oral health related quality of life measure developed to assess the impact of oral health problems on preschool children.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to develop a Lithuanian version of the ECOHIS and evaluate its validity and reliability among preschool children in Lithuania.
  
  
  METHODS
  A lithuanian version of ECOHIS (L-ECOHIS) was developed through a forward-backword translation. A cross-sectional study was performed to assess discriminant and convergent validity and internal consistency. Data was collected from 130 parents of 0-5 year-old children visiting the dental department. A subsample of parents filled the questionnaire again to assess the test-retest reliability.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cronbach's alpha for the instrument was 0.869. Item-total correlation coefficients ranged from 0.389 to 0.797. Scores of the child and family sections were significantly correlated (P<0.001). The scale scores indicating worse quality of life were significantly associated with poor parental ratings of their child's oral health and problem-based dental attendance. The intra-class correlation coefficient was 0.98.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The L-ECOHIS is a valid and reliable measure to assess OHRQoL of 0-5 year-old children with Lithuanian speaking parents.
authors: Department of Oral Health and Paediatric Dentistry, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Lithuania. labanauskaite@yahoo.ca
authors: Birutė
authors: B
authors: Jankauskienė
authors: Julija
authors: J
authors: Narbutaitė
authors: Ričardas
authors: R
authors: Kubilius
authors: Alvydas
authors: A
authors: Gleiznys
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008097:Lithuania; D009909:Oral Health; D011788:Quality of Life; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires