Development of an oral hygiene behavior questionnaire for adolescents based on the theory of planned behavior

Introduction: Currently, there is no questionnaire that measures oral hygiene behavior in adolescents based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) that specifically evaluates tooth-brushing behavior (brushing teeth twice a day: In the morning after breakfast and at night before going to sleep). Objectives: The present study aimed to develop a valid and reliable oral hygiene behavior questionnaire for adolescents based on TPB. Material and methods: The study comprised questionnaire development and testing (validation procedure) stages, followed by field testing (internal consistency, validity, test-retest reliability, and confirmatory factor analysis). Results: The result of the validity test (alignment between items), including the corrected item-total correlation for all items of the questionnaire was > 0.3 (all items correlated with the overall scale score). Internal consistency reliability using Cronbach's α indicated good reliability, with an average value of > 0.8. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was > 0.73. The criterion validity result showed that perceived behavioral control and intention correlated significantly with plaque scores (p < 0.001) but were not correlated with attitudes and subjective norms. The factorial structure stability for all items was valid for measuring the factor. Conclusions: Our adolescent oral hygiene behavior questionnaire based on TPB contains relevant matter that can be understood by students and shows good internal consistency reliability and ICCs. The validity of the criteria was good for perceived behavior control and behavior intentions of oral hygiene and had a valid construct.