Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Swedish version of the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale

Introduction: The impact of dental anxiety is profound. At the same time, dental anxiety is sometimes difficult to detect. Therefore, a patient-reported outcome measure is needed. The Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) is a short, internationally used self-assessment questionnaire for screening o...

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Main Authors: Markus Höglund, Emma Göranson, Inger Wårdh, Pernilla Larsson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Medical Journals Sweden 2024-12-01
Series:Acta Odontologica Scandinavica
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Online Access:https://medicaljournalssweden.se/actaodontologica/article/view/42436
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author Markus Höglund
Emma Göranson
Inger Wårdh
Pernilla Larsson
author_facet Markus Höglund
Emma Göranson
Inger Wårdh
Pernilla Larsson
author_sort Markus Höglund
collection DOAJ
description Introduction: The impact of dental anxiety is profound. At the same time, dental anxiety is sometimes difficult to detect. Therefore, a patient-reported outcome measure is needed. The Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) is a short, internationally used self-assessment questionnaire for screening of dental anxiety. Aim: To cross-culturally adapt the original English MDAS to Swedish (MDAS-S), and to validate it in a Swedish setting. Materials and methods: The adaptation was conducted in accordance with recommended guidelines. Field testing was performed both among adults presenting for their regular dental check-ups and among adults diagnosed by a psychologist as dentally phobic. Results: The MDAS-S was formed during the adaptation procedure. Field testing included 246 adults presenting for their regular dental check-ups and 7 adults diagnosed with dental phobia. The MDAS-S score was significantly higher (p < 0.001) in the dentally phobic group than in the regular dental check-up group. Reliability was good with Cronbach’s Alpha values between 0.880 to 0.909. Test-retest of 37 individuals showed an excellent Intraclass Correlation Coefficient of 0.956. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) finds support for a two-factor model although with 78% shared variance between the factors. Conclusions: The MDAS-S demonstrates good reliability and appears valid as a screening tool for dental anxiety among Swedish adults.
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publishDate 2024-12-01
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spelling doaj-art-c5c769505bc94fd9af08822963b5345d2024-12-16T17:47:43ZengMedical Journals SwedenActa Odontologica Scandinavica0001-63571502-38502024-12-0183110.2340/aos.v83.42436Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Swedish version of the Modified Dental Anxiety ScaleMarkus Höglund0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7655-6521Emma Göranson1https://orcid.org/0009-0004-8402-0873Inger Wårdh2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0939-802XPernilla Larsson3Center for Orofacial Medicine, Public Dental Service Östergötland, Linköping, Sweden; Department of Dental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, SwedenCenter for Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry, Norrköping, Public Dental Service Östergötland, Sweden; Department of Orthodontics, Malmö University, Malmö, SwedenDepartment of Dental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden; Academic Centre for Geriatric Dentistry, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Health Sciences, Karlstad University, Karlstad, SwedenCentre for Oral Rehabilitation, Folktandvården Östergötland, Norrköping, Sweden; Department of Prosthetic Dentistry, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden Introduction: The impact of dental anxiety is profound. At the same time, dental anxiety is sometimes difficult to detect. Therefore, a patient-reported outcome measure is needed. The Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) is a short, internationally used self-assessment questionnaire for screening of dental anxiety. Aim: To cross-culturally adapt the original English MDAS to Swedish (MDAS-S), and to validate it in a Swedish setting. Materials and methods: The adaptation was conducted in accordance with recommended guidelines. Field testing was performed both among adults presenting for their regular dental check-ups and among adults diagnosed by a psychologist as dentally phobic. Results: The MDAS-S was formed during the adaptation procedure. Field testing included 246 adults presenting for their regular dental check-ups and 7 adults diagnosed with dental phobia. The MDAS-S score was significantly higher (p < 0.001) in the dentally phobic group than in the regular dental check-up group. Reliability was good with Cronbach’s Alpha values between 0.880 to 0.909. Test-retest of 37 individuals showed an excellent Intraclass Correlation Coefficient of 0.956. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) finds support for a two-factor model although with 78% shared variance between the factors. Conclusions: The MDAS-S demonstrates good reliability and appears valid as a screening tool for dental anxiety among Swedish adults. https://medicaljournalssweden.se/actaodontologica/article/view/42436Dental anxietydental fearscreening instrumentvalidation
spellingShingle Markus Höglund
Emma Göranson
Inger Wårdh
Pernilla Larsson
Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Swedish version of the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale
Acta Odontologica Scandinavica
Dental anxiety
dental fear
screening instrument
validation
title Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Swedish version of the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale
title_full Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Swedish version of the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale
title_fullStr Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Swedish version of the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale
title_full_unstemmed Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Swedish version of the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale
title_short Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Swedish version of the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale
title_sort cross cultural adaptation and validation of the swedish version of the modified dental anxiety scale
topic Dental anxiety
dental fear
screening instrument
validation
url https://medicaljournalssweden.se/actaodontologica/article/view/42436
work_keys_str_mv AT markushoglund crossculturaladaptationandvalidationoftheswedishversionofthemodifieddentalanxietyscale
AT emmagoranson crossculturaladaptationandvalidationoftheswedishversionofthemodifieddentalanxietyscale
AT ingerwardh crossculturaladaptationandvalidationoftheswedishversionofthemodifieddentalanxietyscale
AT pernillalarsson crossculturaladaptationandvalidationoftheswedishversionofthemodifieddentalanxietyscale