Designing and standardizing a questionnaire for evaluating knowledge, attitude, and practice of Iranian adults with cardiovascular diseases about oral health

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. CONCLUSION: 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.