Hispanic parents' reading language preference and pediatric oral health-related quality of life

Objectives This study compared scores and psychometric properties from self‐identified Hispanic parents who completed Pediatric Oral Health‐related Quality of life (POQL) parent report‐on‐child questionnaires in Spanish or English. The study hypothesized that there were no differences in psychometric properties or POQL scores by parent reading language preference, controlling for dental needs, child's place of birth, age, insurance and use of care. Methods POQL scores were computed, and the internal consistency, feasibility, factor structure and construct validity of the Spanish language version assessed. Results Hispanic parents (N = 387) of 8‐14 year old children (mean age 10.2) completed the survey; 237 in Spanish and 150 in English. Internal consistency scores were higher (Cronbach α range = .86‐.93) among Hispanic parents who completed the questionnaire in Spanish than in English (.66‐.86). POQL scores from parents who completed questionnaires in Spanish were higher (worse) overall (6.03 vs. 3.82, P = 0.022), as were physical (11.61 vs. 6.54, P = 0.001) and role functioning domains (1.87 vs. 0.82, P = 0.029). Items for crying, pain, and eating were higher (P