Linguistic validity and reliability of cariogenic food frequency and oral health knowledge, attitude and practice questionnaires for parents of 6-11 years old children in Kota Bharu, Kelantan

Abstract

Introduction: Cariogenic food intake and oral health knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of parents are contributing factors that influence the oral health status of children. As there is lack of a validated questionnaire in Bahasa Melayu (the Malay language) to measure the factors, this cross-sectional study was carried out to establish a linguistically valid and reliable cariogenic food frequency questionnaire (M-CFFQ) and oral health kap questionnaire (M-OHKAPQ) in Bahasa Melayu, for parents of children aged 6-11 years in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Methods: Relevant questionnaires in English were selected and translated to Malay language. This process included forward translation, synthesis, backward translation and consolidation to produce the preliminary drafts of M-CFFQ and M-OHKAPQ. Pretesting was conducted on ten parents of children from a primary school in Kota Bharu by face-to-face interview. The findings were reviewed to produce the final versions of M-CFFQ and M-OHKAPQ. A test-retest reliability study was undertaken involving 49 parents. The participants were asked to answer the final M-CFFQ and M-OHKAPQ versions twice, within a 7-14 days interval. Data collected were entered into IBM SPPS version 22 software and analysed using the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) test. Results: Semantic, idiomatic, experiential, conceptual as well as content and face validity issues were successfully resolved. Fifteen categories of food/drinks for M-CFFQ and 26 items/questions M-OHKAPQ were produced. The total ICC values achieved for M-CFFQ and M-OHKAPQ were 0.887 and 0.807, respectively. Conclusion: The M-CFFQ and M-OHKAPQ appeared to be linguistically valid and reliable with excellent test-retest reliability (ICC > 0.80).