Validation of the Hindi version of the early childhood oral health impact scale among 3-5-year-old preschool children in Rohtak city, Haryana

Background: The early childhood oral health impact scale (ECOHIS) has been developed for assessing oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in the preschool children and translated and validated in different languages to conform to their cultures. This tool has not been validated in Hindi for use among Indian preschool children till now. Hence, the present study was undertaken to assess the validity of the Hindi version of the ECOHIS among 3-5-year-old preschool children in Rohtak city, Haryana. Materials and Methods: The Hindi version of the ECOHIS was developed through standardized forward-backward linguistic translation method. It was tested for validity and reliability among 469 parents and their children after obtaining informed consent. Construct validity of the measure was assessed by correlating ECOHIS score to dental caries experience (deft). For internal consistency, Cronbach's alpha was determined. A subsample of the parents repeated the ratings of the measure to enable test-retest reliability assessments. Results: Construct validity was r = 0.298. Reliability of the questionnaire was 0.873 (Cronbach's alpha), and test-retest reliability as assessed by intraclass correlation value was 0.91. Conclusions: The Hindi version of the ECOHIS is a valid instrument for assessing OHRQoL in preschool children.