Comparison of the ECOHIS and short-form P-CPQ and FIS scales

BACKGROUND The development of short-form versions of child oral-health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) scales has resulted in two closely related sets of measures. We set out to compare the properties and responsiveness of the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS--both "child" and "family" versions) and short-form Parental-Caregiver Perceptions Questionnaire (P-CPQ) and the Family Impact Scale (FIS) measures among New Zealand children with early childhood caries who underwent treatment under general anaesthesia (GA). METHODS Secondary analysis of data from pretest/post-test clinical studies of consecutive clinical convenience samples undertaken in Wellington in 2005 and Auckland in 2010/11, with cross-sectional analyses using the former, and longitudinal analyses using the latter. RESULTS Cronbach's α values for the ECOHIS-Child, P-CPQ-16 and P-CPQ-8 were 0.80, 0.88 and 0.80 respectively, and 0.83 and 0.68 (respectively) for the FIS-8 and the ECOHIS-Family. All scales showed acceptable cross-sectional construct validity, although that of the ECOHIS-Family was not as marked as that observed with the FIS-8. Responsiveness was acceptable, with the three child-focused measures showing similar effect sizes. The two family-focused measures were also similar. CONCLUSIONS The ECOHIS-Child and the P-CPQ scales are very similar in their properties, but the ECOHIS-Family falls short of the FIS-8 in some important ways. The ECOHIS scales may be better deployed in epidemiological survey work rather than in health services research, whereas the P-CPQ-8, P-CPQ-16 and the FIS-8 seem to be well suited for the latter (particularly with children suffering from severe caries), but their epidemiological utility remains to be demonstrated.