title: Designing and standardizing a questionnaire for evaluating knowledge, attitude, and practice of Iranian adults with cardiovascular diseases about oral health.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cardiovascular diseases are the most common cause of death in Iran. Moreover, periodontal diseases are very common in our country. In this study, we have designed a standardized questionnaire for evaluating knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of Iranian adult patients with cardiovascular diseases about oral health.
  
  
  METHODS
  For designing and standardizing a self-administered questionnaire, we performed a cross-sectional pilot study on 51 cases with periodontal complaints. A dentist carried out the physical examination to determine oral health indicators. Twelve experts and ten lay people of the target population answered questions about validity. Cronbach's alpha, factor analysis, and Pearson correlation coefficients were used in the analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The cases of this pilot study were middle aged, with moderate financial and health status, but low oral health and educational level. Debris score was correlated with all other physical exam findings except decay, missing, and filled (DMF). Reliability was 0.826 according to Cronbach's alpha score. Face validity was higher than 80%. Content validities of the whole of the questionnaire were 85.98% for clarity, 78.05% for relevancy, 85.16% for simplicity, and 82.32% for consistency of each question with the question set. Factor analysis showed that 15 components explain 74% of the total variance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This questionnaire is culturally adjusted and appropriate for our community, valid and reliable, and sufficiently estimates the variance of the oral health status. It can be used as a standard tool in further studies in adult population of the Iranian middle aged patients with low level of education and moderate socioeconomic status.
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Dental Implants Research Center AND Department of Periodontics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Amir Alireza
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Rasouli-Ghahroudi
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Dental Implants Research Center AND Department of Periodontics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Amir Reza
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Rokn
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Periodontics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Afshin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khorsand
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Tehran Heart Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aghajani
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Imam Hossein Hospital, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Afshin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amini
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Dental Research Center, Dentistry Research Institute AND Department of Community Oral Health, School of Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ahmad Reza
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Shamshiri
authors.affiliation: Dentist, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hamed
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rahimi
authors.affiliation: PhD Candidate, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences AND Center for Educational Research in Medical Sciences, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kabir
keywords: Oral Health; Periodontal Diseases; Questionnaires; Reliability; Reproducibility of Results; Validation Studies; Validity