Validity and reliability of patient-centered outcome measures in oral dysesthesia

Objective. The objective of this study was to investigate the validity and reliability of a quality of life instrument in patients with oral dysesthesia. Study design. Forty-five individuals newly diagnosed with oral dysesthesia (37 women, 8 men) were enrolled in this study. Individuals were interviewed using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), and the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14). Construct validity and internal reliability were examined. Results. Patient rating of pain experienced, using VAS, correlated with OHIP-14 scores (P < .05), demonstrating construct validity. OHIP-14 demonstrated good internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha of 0.79. The corrected item-total correlations for items 3 (painful aching) and 12 (difficulty doing usual jobs) were below the recommended minimum of 0.20. Cronbach's alpha increased to 0.81 with the exclusion of these 2 items from OHIP-14. Conclusions. The OHIP-14 questionnaire appeared to perform relatively well in the 45 patients with oral dysesthesia enrolled in this study, demonstrating validity and reliability in the assessment of the effect of oral dysesthesia on quality of life. However, the exclusion of items 3 and 12 from the questionnaire should be considered in future studies with this patient population. (Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod 2011; 112: 597-601)