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Table 3 Internal consistency reliability of SOHO-5: item-total correlation coefficients, Cronbach’s Alpha, Alpha if item deleted

From: Developing a new self-reported scale of oral health outcomes for 5-year-old children (SOHO-5)

 

Corrected item-totalcorrelation coefficients

Alpha if item deleted

Difficulty eating

0.30

0.73

Difficulty drinking

0.42

0.68

Difficulty speaking

0.46

0.69

Difficulty playing

0.60

0.65

Avoiding smiling (due to pain)

0.52

0.65

Avoiding smiling (due to appearance)

0.47

0.67

Difficulty sleeping

0.41

0.68

  1. Cronbach’s Alpha: 0.74
  2. Children that reported current toothache had significantly higher SOHO-5 scores than those without toothache, and the same was the case for toothache experience (Table 4). Furthermore, children that were very satisfied with their teeth had significantly lower SOHO-5 scores, indicating better quality of life, compared to children with lower levels of satisfaction. Similarly, those that did not report having oral cavities had significantly better scores than those that did. Finally, children with poor oral health (any of the following: caries, pulp involvement, current toothache, toothache experience) had worse OHRQoL than those that had none of these conditions. There were also significant differences in OHRQoL between different clinical groups (Table 4). Children with dental caries, those with pulp involvement and those with dental sepsis had significantly worse SOHO-5 scores than children without these conditions.