Development and Psychometric Properties of the Periodontal Diseases Assessment Index in Pregnancy for Midwives

Periodontal diseases cause adverse obstetric outcomes in pregnancy. However, pregnant women generally avoid going to the dentist. This study was conducted to assess the reliability and validity of Periodontal Diseases Assessment Index (PEDIAP) in Pregnancy for Midwives in Turkish society.

This is a validation study consisted of 111 pregnant women referred to antenatal clinic of a training hospital in western Turkey in 2017. Construct validity of the index was calculated by exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA, CFA), reliability by Cronbach's alpha coefficient, inter-applicant agreement with Kendal W coefficient and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and factor structure with principal components analysis and Varimax rotation using SPSS for Windows 20.0 software.

Results showed that the index explained 33.94% of the total variance, and the factor loading values were between 0.47 and 0.68. Based on the CFA, fit indices were found to be χ2/sd = 1.6384, RMSEA = 0.0762, and CFI = 0.9795. The regression coefficients and t values were significant (t > 1.96). The index was found to have a positive correlation with (CPITN) scores (p < .001). The Cronbach alpha coefficient was calculated to be 0.774. It was found that the Kendal W coefficient ranged from 0.550-1 for each item, the ICC coefficient was 0.869, and correlation was significant (p < 0.001). The cut-off value of the index was specified as 3.5

The results of this study show that the PEDIAP is a valid and reliable index for use in research and midwifery care.