Validation of a Facial Image Scale to assess child dental anxiety

Abstract

Summary. Objective. To examine the validity of a scale that uses faces as an indicator of children’s dental anxiety. Setting. Department of Child Dental Health waiting room, Newcastle Dental Hospital. Subjects and methods. 100 children (aged 3–18 years) completed the Facial Image Scale (FIS) and the Venham Picture Test (VPT) in the dental hospital waiting room. Results. A strong correlation (0·7) was found between the two scales, indicating good validity for the FIS. Findings also showed that a small, but significant, number of children are anxious in the dental context. Conclusion. The findings suggest that the FIS is a valid means of assessing child dental anxiety status in a clinical context.

Evaluation of children’s dental anxiety levels at a kindergarten and at a dental clinic

“…4,5 Some studies have shown that dental anxiety affects daily life and creates problems in family relationships and social activities. 6,7 The dentist's awareness of the patient's anxiety level prior to treatment prepares him/her for the patient's reactions and allows him/her to take precautions to reduce the patient's anxiety level. This is crucial, particularly when dealing with pediatric patients.…”

“…1,2,3,11 Many studies have used facial images to assess the feelings of pediatric patients. 3,6 The most important step when using such a scale is to validate it with another scale that has been previously validated for the group under study. 2,3,6 In the case of very young children, the Venham picture test (VPT) is often used to avoid the need for extensive oral communication with children.…”

“…3,6 The most important step when using such a scale is to validate it with another scale that has been previously validated for the group under study. 2,3,6 In the case of very young children, the Venham picture test (VPT) is often used to avoid the need for extensive oral communication with children. VPT uses eight cards, each of which shows two pictures portraying opposite feelings.…”

Utilising a paediatric version of the indicator of sedation need for children’s dental care: a pilot study

“…Although both FIS and MCDASf have been validated by previous research (Buchanan and Niven 2002;Hosey 2002), a recent paper by Guinot and colleagues have argued that because children's anxiety is of a multi-dimensional nature, more studies are needed to determine the reliability and validity of the measures used to assess dental anxiety in children. The authors further explained that the low level of correlation among the different methods of assessing anxiety in children seems logical given the physiological, cognitive and motor responses that manifest in different ways in each individual (Guinot et al 2011).…”

“…Following this, each child participant was asked to complete an anxiety questionnaire. There were two anxiety questionnaires; the Facial Image Scale (FIS) (Buchanan and Niven 2002) was used for children under 10 years of age and the faces version of the Modified Child Dental Anxiety Scale (MCDASf) for older children (Howard and Freeman 2007). According to the score the patients achieved on the anxiety scale, the chief investigator calculated an "anxiety score" for each child and transferred this to the data collection sheet.…”