Iranian version of a face version of the Modified Child Dental Anxiety Scale: Transcultural adaptation and reliability analysis*

BACKGROUND: A novel version of the Modified Child Dental Anxiety Scale (MCDAS) was developed by addition of faces rating scale to the original numeric form. The aim of this prospective descriptive study was to perform a transcultural adaptation and reliability analysis of the Iranian version of Faces version of Modified Child Dental Anxiety Scale (MCDAS(f)) and the Dental Subscale of the Children's Fear Survey Schedule (CFSS-DS). METHODS: To determine the test–retest reliability, 200 school-children aged 8–12 years completed the MCDAS(f) and the CFSS-DS on two separate occasions, 2 weeks apart. To determine the criterion validity, all participants completed two questionnaires at the same sitting. The translated instrument was tested for internal consistency by Cronbach's alpha, inter-item, and item-total correlation coefficients. Correlation between the MCDAS(f) and CFSS-DS mean scores and age were calculated using the Pearson correlation coefficient. RESULTS: The intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from 0.158 to 0.658 (P < 0.01) for the individual items of the MCDAS(f) between the first and the second assessments and also, ranged from 0.350 to 0.677 (P < 0.01) for CFSS-DS. The internal consistencies (Cronbach's alpha) were 0.85 and 0.92 for the MCDAS(f) and CFSS-DS, respectively. The correlation between the MCDAS(f) and CFSS-DS was 0.73 (P < 0.001). The MCDAS(f) and the CFSS-DS scores at the first administration were significantly greater than those of the second. CONCLUSIONS: The MCDAS(f) is a reliable measure of dental anxiety in Iranian children aged 8–12 years, suggestive of good reliability and validity.