Development of a Dental Anxiety Provoking Scale: A pilot study in Hong Kong

Background/purpose: Dental anxiety is closely related to one's past experience in dental clinics. However, little is known about what clinical, environmental, and psychological aspects provoke anxiety in dental patients. Extending on previous work in The Netherlands which explored anxiety provo...

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Main Authors: Hai Ming Wong, Cheuk Ming Mak, Wai Ming To
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2015-09-01
Series:Journal of Dental Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1991790215000240
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author Hai Ming Wong
Cheuk Ming Mak
Wai Ming To
author_facet Hai Ming Wong
Cheuk Ming Mak
Wai Ming To
author_sort Hai Ming Wong
collection DOAJ
description Background/purpose: Dental anxiety is closely related to one's past experience in dental clinics. However, little is known about what clinical, environmental, and psychological aspects provoke anxiety in dental patients. Extending on previous work in The Netherlands which explored anxiety provoking stimuli, the objective of the study was to develop a Dental Anxiety Provoking Scale (DAPS) that measures the degree to which anxiety was provoked by dental stimuli and to identify the underlying factor structure of the DAPS. Materials and methods: Four hundred and sixty study participants were recruited from two universities in Hong Kong. Each participant completed a self-administrated questionnaire that included a 73-item measure of dental anxiety provoking stimuli, and a four-item dental anxiety scale. Results: Results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed that the DAPS has seven factors, namely, dental check-up, injection, scale and drill, surgery, empathy, perceived lack of control, and clinic environment, and has 27 items. Results of structural equation modeling showed that three factors of the DAPS; dental check-up, surgery, and clinic environment, had a significant effect on dental anxiety score. The Cronbach α values ranged from 0.76 to 0.92 while the composite reliability values ranged from 0.78 to 0.93. The average variance extracted (AVE) values ranged from 0.55 to 0.81. The minimum AVE value was greater than the square of correlation value for each pair of factors. Conclusion: The study developed and validated the DAPS covering a wide range of dental anxiety provoking stimuli, findings were concise enough to be used in clinical based studies.
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spelling doaj.art-7923c17f3fb04a649552ef95075b0f0c2022-12-22T03:23:34ZengElsevierJournal of Dental Sciences1991-79022015-09-0110324024710.1016/j.jds.2014.09.003Development of a Dental Anxiety Provoking Scale: A pilot study in Hong KongHai Ming Wong0Cheuk Ming Mak1Wai Ming To2Department of Paediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong KongDepartment of Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong KongSchool of Business, Macao Polytechnic Institute, Macao, ChinaBackground/purpose: Dental anxiety is closely related to one's past experience in dental clinics. However, little is known about what clinical, environmental, and psychological aspects provoke anxiety in dental patients. Extending on previous work in The Netherlands which explored anxiety provoking stimuli, the objective of the study was to develop a Dental Anxiety Provoking Scale (DAPS) that measures the degree to which anxiety was provoked by dental stimuli and to identify the underlying factor structure of the DAPS. Materials and methods: Four hundred and sixty study participants were recruited from two universities in Hong Kong. Each participant completed a self-administrated questionnaire that included a 73-item measure of dental anxiety provoking stimuli, and a four-item dental anxiety scale. Results: Results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed that the DAPS has seven factors, namely, dental check-up, injection, scale and drill, surgery, empathy, perceived lack of control, and clinic environment, and has 27 items. Results of structural equation modeling showed that three factors of the DAPS; dental check-up, surgery, and clinic environment, had a significant effect on dental anxiety score. The Cronbach α values ranged from 0.76 to 0.92 while the composite reliability values ranged from 0.78 to 0.93. The average variance extracted (AVE) values ranged from 0.55 to 0.81. The minimum AVE value was greater than the square of correlation value for each pair of factors. Conclusion: The study developed and validated the DAPS covering a wide range of dental anxiety provoking stimuli, findings were concise enough to be used in clinical based studies.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1991790215000240dental anxietiespilot studytest anxiety scale
spellingShingle Hai Ming Wong
Cheuk Ming Mak
Wai Ming To
Development of a Dental Anxiety Provoking Scale: A pilot study in Hong Kong
Journal of Dental Sciences
dental anxieties
pilot study
test anxiety scale
title Development of a Dental Anxiety Provoking Scale: A pilot study in Hong Kong
title_full Development of a Dental Anxiety Provoking Scale: A pilot study in Hong Kong
title_fullStr Development of a Dental Anxiety Provoking Scale: A pilot study in Hong Kong
title_full_unstemmed Development of a Dental Anxiety Provoking Scale: A pilot study in Hong Kong
title_short Development of a Dental Anxiety Provoking Scale: A pilot study in Hong Kong
title_sort development of a dental anxiety provoking scale a pilot study in hong kong
topic dental anxieties
pilot study
test anxiety scale
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1991790215000240
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