Attitudes of Peruvian dentists toward absolute isolation. Design and validation of a scale in the time of COVID-19

Abstract

Introduction: Rubber dam isolation is a dental procedure that ensures biosafety and the quality of restorative treatments; however, no appropriate tool is available to evaluate the topic in Peruvian reality. Objective: Design and validate a scale to evaluate the attitude of Peruvian dentists toward rubber dam isolation. Methods: An instrumental cross-sectional study was conducted. The scale was applied through a virtual questionnaire and then distributed on social networks to 279 dentists (143 women and 136 men) selected by intentional nonprobability sampling. Age ranged from 22 to 67 years. Results: Aiken's V coefficient values were favorable for all items. Exploratory factor analysis showed the presence of a single factor. Confirmatory factor analysis suggested deletion of items 1 and 7. Reliability of the scale proved to be good. It was estimated with a Cronbach's α coefficient of 0.71. Conclusions: The scale about attitudes of Peruvian dentists toward rubber dam isolation (Act-AA-Cov19) is a brief, valid and reliable measurement which may be used for research purposes.

Keywords

• estudio de validación
• actitud
• odontólogos
• encuestas y cuestionarios
• reproductibilidad de los resultados.