Validation of the Oral Health Impact Profile in Spanish for Paraguayan adults (OHIP-14Py).

Objetive: The objective of this study was to culturally adapt and validate the short version of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) instrument into Spanish for use by Paraguayan adults who attended dental clinics. Material and methods: The design was a cross-sectional observational study based on Classical Test Theory (CTT). The original English language version was subjected to a forward-backward translation processes; a calibration of the examiners and pilot test were performed. The questionnaire was applied by dentists through interviews; the same dentists also made the oral examination. The dimensionality of the questionnaire was evaluated using Confirmatory Factorial Analysis (CFA). The total and item-total internal consistencies were evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha. To evaluate the discriminating validity, the Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used. Spearman’s correlation analysis was used to measure convergent validity for total-dimension, self-assessment of oral health, and dental caries experience index with the DMFT Index. Results: Three-hundred-thirty-three patients participated in the study. The CFA indicates the Paraguayan’s OHIP (OHIP-14Py) is considered a multi-dimensional instrument. The Cronbach’s alpha values were appropriate for both the total (α=0.061) and for item total (α=0.80) correlation. The OHIP-14Py discriminated for the variable self-perception of oral health (p=0.001), symptoms of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) (p=0.026), need of upper dental prosthesis (p=0.001), need of lower dental prosthesis (p=0.001), and ≥20 teeth healthy (p=0.001). For measuring convergent validity, all coefficients of correlation were statistically significant (p=0.001). Conclusion: The OHIP-14Py is a reliable and valid questionnaire for the evaluation of oral health-related quality of life in Paraguayan adults.