A new dental anxiety scale for 5-year-old children (DA5): Description and concurrent validity
- 1 March 2002
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Health Education Journal
- Vol. 61 (1), 5-19
- https://doi.org/10.1177/001789690206100102
Abstract
Objectives To design a new assessment of dental anxiety for 5-year-old children that takes less than five minutes to complete, for use in primary care or community settings, that requires minimal training for assessment administrator and has favourable psychometric properties. Setting Primary schools in Cheshire, UK. Method Two studies were conducted. The first study required a sample of 31 five-year-old children to rank order five diagrammatic picture cards denoting emotions of very happy to very sad, including a neutral emotion card. The second study invited children to post 12 gender-matched pictures of children receiving dental advice, examination and treatment procedures in a dental surgery into four post boxes arranged in rank order and labelled clearly, with the face pictures in the rank order confirmed in study 1 (omitting the neutral choice option). Results In study 1, consistent rank ordering was obtained with four faces (very happy-happy-sad-very sad). Neutral point was omitted due to inconsistent ranking. Study 2 children responded enthusiastically to instructions of new assessment and fully completed the test. A good association was demonstrated between the new measure and the gold standard' projective measure picture test of Klinberg1. Reliability of measure was moderate. Conclusions This new assessment appeared to assess dental anxiety in young children without causing apparent distress in respondents and warrants further testing to determine additional measurement properties.Keywords
This publication has 33 references indexed in Scilit:
- The use of dental anxiety questionnaires: a survey of a group of UK dental practitionersBritish Dental Journal, 2001
- A model of pain and anxiety associated with acute stressors: Distress in dental proceduresBehaviour Research and Therapy, 1996
- Origins of childhood dental fearBehaviour Research and Therapy, 1995
- Does anxiety affect children's reports of memory for a stressful event?Applied Cognitive Psychology, 1993
- The influence of social and ethnic factors on dental care habits and dental anxiety: a study in IsraelInternational Journal of Paediatric Dentistry, 1993
- Assessment of a single-item dental anxiety questionActa Odontologica Scandinavica, 1990
- Direct ratings of acceptance of dental treatment in Swedish childrenCommunity Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, 1987
- Ratings of Fears Associated with Twelve Dental SituationsJournal of Dental Research, 1987
- Relative Utility of Different Measures of Stress Induced by Dental ProceduresJournal of Dental Research, 1979
- Development of a Dental Anxiety ScaleJournal of Dental Research, 1969