The development and validation of a Korean version of the oral hygiene-related self-efficacy tool.

Purpose: Self-efficacy is an important factor in the management of chronic oral diseases. This study aimed to develop a Korean version of a self-efficacy tool related to personal oral hygiene management, and verify its validity and reliability.

Methods: This study evaluated the validity and reliability of a Korean version of the oral health-related self-efficacy measurement tool (OHSE-K). The sub-factors of this self-efficacy tool are tooth brushing, interdental hygiene management, and dental visits. The original items were translated into Korean, and their content validity was confirmed. Initially, a preliminary survey was conducted, followed by the main survey. The main survey comprised 19 content-verified items. The validity and reliability of the main survey were evaluated through repeated exploratory factor analyses. A randomly selected sample of Korean adults, aged 19 years or older, completed the OHSE-K online between May 10 and June 2, 2023. The study recruited 400 adults for the preliminary survey. Data were analyzed using PASW 25.0.

Results: The OHSE-K demonstrated a high level of overall reliability (Cronbach's α=0.891). Exploratory factor analysis revealed 3 significant factors: tooth-brushing self-efficacy, interdental hygiene management self-efficacy, and dental visit self-efficacy, with a cumulative explanation rate of 65.114%. The criterion validity results indicated that oral healthcare awareness and behavior, as well as unmet dental treatment needs, were significant (P<0.05). Additionally, the OHSE-K scores showed significant correlations with all 3 sub-factors (P<0.05).

Conclusions: The OHSE-K is a reliable tool. Our results demonstrated its validity and reliability.