Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Italian Psychosocial Impact of Dental Aesthetics Questionnaire (PIDAQ)

To validate and cross-culturally adapt the Italian version of the Psychological Impact of Dental Aesthetics Questionnaire (PIDAQ) among Italian young adults. After translation, back translation, and cross-cultural adaptation of the English PIDAQ, a first version of the Italian questionnaire was pretested. The final Italian PIDAQ was administered to 598 subjects aged 18-30 years, along with two other instruments: the aesthetic component of the index of orthodontic treatment need (IOTN-AC) and the perception of occlusion scale (POS), which identified the self-reporting grade of malocclusion. Structural validity was assessed by means of factorial analysis, internal consistency was measured with Cronbach's alpha coefficient (alpha), convergent validity was assessed by means of Spearman correlation, and test-retest reliability was calculated with intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and standard measurement error. Criterion validity was evaluated by multivariate and univariate analysis of variance with Bonferroni post hoc tests. The alpha of the Italian PIDAQ domains ranged between 0.79 and 0.92. The ICC was between 0.81 and 0.90. The mean scores of each PIDAQ domain showed a statistically significant difference when analysed according to the IOTN-AC and POS scores. The satisfactory psychometric properties make PIDAQ a usable tool for future studies on oral health-related quality of life among Italian young adults.