Construção e validação de questionário para predição de cárie dentária em adolescentes: evidência de validade baseada no conteúdo do teste e nos processos de resposta

Abstract

Objective: Dental caries are still very present in Brazilian society. Therefore studies for risk assessment in relation to this problem are important to allow specific public health interventions. Thus, this study aims to construct and validate an instrument that can predict the risk of caries in adolescents. Methods: Construction and validation of a questionnaire according to SEPT (Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing), involving the first two steps. Step one: Evidence of validity based on the content of the test, which defined the construction and elaboration of the questions by an expert panel and evaluated the representativeness and relevance of the items in relation to the construct by a committee of 9 experts. " The analysis was performed using the content validity index for items (IVC-I ≥ 0.78) and content validity index (IVC ≥ 0.9). Second step: Evidence of validity based on response processes. The questionnaire was applied to 20 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years using the cognitive interview strategy. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the responses was performed. Results: The first version of the questionnaire consisted of 18 questions related to dental caries, with CVI = 0.87 and IVC-I = 0.67 for only one question (excluded), so the instrument with 17 questions was well accepted by the adolescents, requiring only minor morphosyntax adjustments. Conclusion: The steps until the validation process are completed demonstrate adequacy to the intended audience. In this sense, the instrument is able to continue the complete validation process.