Malayalam language translation and validation of oral health-related early childhood quality of life tool (OH-ECQoL)

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to adapt the Oral Health-related Early Childhood Quality of Life (OH-ECQoL) tool for the Malayalam-speaking community and investigate its validity and reliability. Methodology: Malayalam language version of OH-ECQoL was derived through a forward–backward translation and tested for content validity. A convenient sample (n = 300) was recruited by including children with and without early childhood caries (ECC). Parents of these children completed the derived Malayalam OH-ECQoL measure. The properties of translated OH-ECQoL were evaluated by determining its validity and reliability using concurrent validity, construct validity, discriminant validity, internal consistency, and test–retest reliability. Results: OH-ECQoL scores varied with ECC and caries-free groups (P < 0.001), supporting the ability to distinguish between patient groups. Discriminant validity tests show that children with ECC have greater median scores and interquartile range (21 ± 8) compared to children without ECC (14 ± 2). Concurrent validity was observed to be 0.72 and 0.71, respectively, for child section (P < 0.001). Convergent validity demonstrates a strong positive correlation between child impact and family impact with a Spearman's correlation coefficient significant of 0.73 (P ≤ 0.01). Cronbach's alpha for the child impact section and family impact section showed good internal consistency at 0.92 and 0.83, respectively. Test–retest reliability at 0.87 shows good reliability. Conclusions: The Malayalam version of the OH-ECQoL tool demonstrated acceptable validity and reliability. The study also shows that ECC presents a negative impact on the QoL of preschool children and their parents.