Reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Abeer Children Dental Anxiety Scale (ACDAS)

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Abeer Children Dental Anxiety Scale (ACDAS) as a tool used for the identification and treatment of anxious children. Methods: The study sample included 122 children aged ≥7 years, and the intervention consisted of implementation of the ACDAS and the Children’s Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS) by the lead researcher during the first dental visit for each child. ACDAS application was also repeated by another pediatric dentist in a smaller sub-sample of 20 children during the same visit. The lead researcher repeated the process, (i.e. application of ACDAS) in the whole study sample after two weeks. Results: The mean age of the participants was 9.84 ± 1.696 years (range: 7–12 years), and anxiety (ACDAS ≥ 26) was detected in 36.1% of the children. The Turkish version of the ACDAS exhibited high correlation with the CFSS-DS (r = 0.760; p 0.05), although significant differences were observed in the Child Evaluation section (p < 0.01). The Area Under the Curve (AUC), obtained by Receiver Operative Characteristic Curve (ROC) Analysis was 0.849 indicating good diagnostic performance. Conclusions: Based on these findings, the Turkish version of the ACDAS can be considered as a valid and reliable dental anxiety scale for the identification of children concerned about dental procedures.

Keywords

• dental anxiety
• dental care
• pediatric dentistry