Prevalence of oral impacts and validity of the Child-Oral Impacts on Daily Performance (OIDP): pilot study of 10-11 year-old children in Italy

Abstract

Aim: The Child-Oral Impacts on Daily Performance (OIDP) assesses the impacts of oral health problems on the daily activities of
children. Objectives of this study were to cross-culturally adapt the Child-OIDP for use among Italian children and provide initial
evidence on its reliability and validity in a sample of 10-11 year-olds.
Materials and Method: The Italian Child-OIDP was administered to a convenience sample of 10-11-year-old 5th graders of
“Giò Leonardo di Bona” Public School in Cutro (Italy). Informed positive consent was sought and obtained from the participants’
parents. Analyses were performed using SAS statistical package; reliability testing referred to internal consistency that was evaluated
using the Cronbach’s alpha, alpha if item deleted, and inter-item and item-total correlation coefficients.
Result: To provide initial evidence for the evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Italian Child-OIDP, we invited 103 10-
11-year-old schoolchildren and 97 participated in the study (response rate = 94.2%), 50 boys (51.5%) and 47 girls (48.5%).
Almost all children (95.87%) reported that they had experienced at least one problem with their teeth or mouth in the past 3
months. All item-total correlation were above 0.20 and Cronbach's alpha was 0.59. Higher Child-OIDP scores were significantly
associated with worse perceptions in terms of oral health, general health and satisfaction with oral health status, but not with
perceived dental treatment needs. Analyses were performed using SAS statistical package; reliability testing referred to internal
consistency that was evaluated using the Cronbach’s alpha, alpha if item deleted, and inter-item and item-total correlation
coefficients.
Conclusion: Child-OIDP index is a measure of oral health-related quality of life that can be applied to Italian children. Initial
evidence of its psychometric properties was promising, but future studies should be conducted to fully evaluate its psychometric
properties in a population based epidemiological study.