Face Validity and Psychometric Evaluation of the Available Oral Health-related Quality of Life Instruments: A Systematic Review

Purpose: A growing recognition of the importance of oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) has led to the development of several instruments to measure their relationship with health. The objective of this review was to update the knowledge on the general and psychometric characteristics of the instruments to measure the quality of life (QoL) related to oral health that emerged after publication in 1997 of the results of the conference 'Measuring oral health and QoL'.

Materials and Methods: A bibliographic search was carried out to identify publications published in January from 1998 to June 2018, using EMBASE, PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL and Web of Science databases. Specific criteria were established based on international reference frameworks for the inclusion, collection, and analysis of general and psychomet-ric properties of the instruments.

Results: 233 articles were identified, of which 10 met the eligibility criteria and were included. All the instruments were multidimensional, presented psychometric properties and were mostly based on prior measurement tools and the classification of impairments and disabilities. All studies presented information on the internal consistency of their instruments. Validity to discriminate was also rated positively in all of the instruments except OHRQoL-UK instrument. Among the instruments, the criterion that was found to be least was a response to change, as only three instruments met the criteria. Reliability and construct validity criteria were also present in most of the studies.

Conclusion: The dental profession has shown great progress towards a more comprehensive measurement of the oral health needs of the population, it is necessary to move from focusing on sick patients and theories of disabilities to incorporating healthy patients and resource-based theories and capacities in their measurements of OHRQoL, that would improve patient safety, quality of care and risk management, and improve clinical decision making for healthcare professionals.