Development and validation of a trilingual oral health care knowledge (OHCK) questionnaire for caregivers of children with and without special health care needs (SHCN)

Abstract

Background: Caregiver-related knowledge and practices play a decisive role in determining the oral health trajectory of children. In a linguistically diverse country like India, the lack of culturally and linguistically validated assessment tools remains a significant limitation. Aim: To evaluate the validity and reliability of a trilingual (English-Hindi-Bengali) Oral Health Care Knowledge Questionnaire designed for caregivers of Children with and without special health care needs (SHCN) Materials and Methods: A total of 60 caregivers participated in the validation process. Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. Construct validity was evaluated by item-total correlation analysis. Test-retest reliability was established using the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) with 95% confidence intervals. Results: The overall Cronbach’s alpha value of the questionnaire was 0.871, indicating excellent internal consistency. All items demonstrated statistically significant item-total correlations exceeding the critical value, confirming strong construct validity. Test-retest reliability showed ICC values ranging from 0.703 to 0.998, indicating acceptable to excellent repeatability. Conclusion: The trilingual oral health care knowledge questionnaire demonstrated strong reliability and validity and is a psychometrically sound tool for assessing oral hygiene knowledge and practices among caregivers of both Children with and without special health care needs (SHCN) in the Indian population.