A unified child perceptions questionnaire for Brazilian children aged 5-14 years: validation and psychometric evaluation.

OBJECTIVE

To develop and validate a unified Brazilian version of the Child Perceptions Questionnaire for children and adolescents aged 5-14 years (CPQ5-14).

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

The unified CPQ5-14 was developed based on common and age-specific items from the CPQ8-10 and CPQ11-14. A sample of 200 children aged 5-14 years and their parents/caregivers was recruited to evaluate the instrument's psychometric properties. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed to assess factorial structure and dimensionality. Reliability was evaluated using internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's omega) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient). Convergent and discriminant validity were also assessed.

RESULTS

The instrument demonstrated good internal consistency (McDonald's omega = 0.93; Cronbach's alpha = 0.84) and high test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.838). Positive correlations were observed between total scores and global ratings (r = 0.384; r = 0.557), supporting convergent validity. Discriminant validity was confirmed by significant differences between children with and without dental caries (p = 0.002). Parallel analysis and unidimensionality indices (UniCo = 0.963; ECV = 0.873; MIREAL = 0.191) supported a unidimensional structure. The bifactor model indicated that the unidimensional model provided a better fit than the four-factor model.

CONCLUSION

The unified CPQ5-14 is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing oral health-related quality of life in Brazilian children and adolescents.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The instrument enables the assessment of the impact of oral health conditions, dental treatments, and health promotion strategies on OHRQoL in Brazilian children aged 5-14 years using a unified measure.