Portuguese version of Corah's Dental Anxiety Scale: transcultural adaptation and reliability analysis

Abstract

This study explores the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of Corah's Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS), an instrument designed to assess the manifestations of dental anxiety. The DAS has been translated into several languages, but no adaptation and reliability analysis of the Portuguese version of the scale has yet been carried out. A total of 747 Brazilian undergraduate students participated in this study. The instrument proved to have good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Furthermore, we observed that women are more anxious during dental treatment routines compared to men. Our findings suggest that the Portuguese version of DAS is a reliable instrument for assessing adults' dental anxiety traits, and can be used for both clinical and research purposes.

Dental anxiety and trait anxiety: an investigation of their relationship

“…4,15,16,24,25 Gender differences in dental anxiety might be due to the complex factors involved in men's and women's attitudes toward pain and control. 26 Age seems to have no signifi cant infl uence on general and dental anxiety, mirroring previous studies.…”

“…Dental anxiety was evaluated by the Portuguese version of Corah's Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS), 14 validated by Hu et al 15 The scale contains four multiple-choice items regarding the patient's subjective reactions about going to the dentist, waiting in the dentist's offi ce for the procedure, and anticipation of drilling and scaling. Each item is scored on a 1 to 5 scale, ranging from calm (score 1) to terrifi ed (score 5).…”

Ansiedade frente ao tratamento odontológico: prevalência e fatores predictores em brasileiros

“…Para efeito de interpretação do grau de ansiedade, pacientes cuja soma das respostas foi inferior a 5 pontos, são considerados muito pouco ansiosos; entre 6 a 10 pontos, levemente ansiosos; entre 11 a 15 pontos, moderadamente ansiosos; e somas superiores a 15 pontos, extremamente ansiosos (Tabela 1) 9 .…”

Validation and Invariance of the Dental Anxiety Scale in a Brazilian sample

“…ac.uk/dentalanxiety/scaletranslations/), including Portuguese. 16 The psychometric properties of the scale have been determined for English 17 and Chinese populations 18 using confirmatory factor analysis; however, only reliability has been evaluated in Brazilian populations. 16 The decision on whether to use the DAS or the MDAS should be based on the objective of the study.…”

“…16 The psychometric properties of the scale have been determined for English 17 and Chinese populations 18 using confirmatory factor analysis; however, only reliability has been evaluated in Brazilian populations. 16 The decision on whether to use the DAS or the MDAS should be based on the objective of the study. Both scales evaluate dental anxiety one day before a dental appointment, in the waiting room, during the dentist's use of dental tools to perform scaling procedures, and during the use of drills.…”