Psychometrics of the POHQOL: Children 8 Years to 8th Grade

Objective: Report on the psychometric characteristics of the Pediatric Oral Health-related Quality of Life (POHQOL) instrument. Methods: We tested the psychometric characteristics of the twenty-item POHQOL in children from diverse backgrounds in greater Boston, recruited from schools, school clinics and community health centers (CHC). Parents gave consent and children assent. Brief oral screening exams based on those from the ASTDD assessed caries and sealants; questionnaires included the POHQOL, PedsQL (Varni, 1999); age, sex, grade, race and use of dental care. Results: Children included 658 elementary and 1168 middle school students and 86 CHC patients, mean age 11.6 years, 55% female and 20.6% with caries in the 826 children who received the oral screening. POHQOL scores were higher (worse) in the younger (8-10 years) children, overall and by domains. Chronbach's alpha was 0.83 overall, and ranged from 0.88-0.90 by domain with no differences by age group. Missing data on individual items were rare. Test-retest reliability (n=98) overall was 0.72. POHQOL scores were higher (worse, p<0.05) in children with caries, children who had not seen a dentist in the last year, and whose last visit was for emergency or any treatment versus diagnostic and preventive care. PedsQL was associated with visit in last year and reason for last visit, but not caries. Conclusion: The POHQOL demonstrates acceptable psychometric characteristics across a diverse sample of children age eight to eighth grade.

Supported by NIDCR U54-DE014264, U54-DE019275, K24-DE018211, K24-DE00419