UK population norms for the modified dental anxiety scale with percentile calculator : adult dental health survey 2009 results

Background: A recent UK population survey of oral health included questions to assess dental anxiety to provide mean and prevalence estimates of this important psychological construct. Methods: A two-stage cluster sample was used for the survey across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The survey took place between October-December 2009, and January-April 2010. All interviewers were trained on survey procedures. Within the 7,233 households sampled there were 13,509 adults who were asked to participate in the survey and 11,382 participated (84%). Results: The scale was reliable and showed some evidence of unidimensionality. Estimated proportion of participants with high dental anxiety (cut-off score = 19) was 11.6%. Percentiles and confidence intervals were presented and can be estimated for individual patients across various age ranges and gender using an on-line tool. Conclusions: The largest reported data set on the MDAS from a representative UK sample was presented. The scale’s psychometrics is supportive for the routine assessment of patient dental anxiety to compare against a number of major demographic groups categorised by age and sex. Practitioners within the UK have a resource to estimate the rarity of a particular patient’s level of dental anxiety, with confidence intervals, when using the on-line percentile calculator.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

In market, mansion or mountain: Representations of disability in reading for the young in rural and urban contexts, 1850-1950

The Rousseauvian view of the countryside as a place of healing, both physical and psychological, has remained extraordinarily pervasive until the present day. This essay explores the changing representation of disability in rural and urban contexts in selected popular texts for the young in Europe, the USA and Australia, between 1850 and 1950, the ‘age of great cities’. Whilst also examining small towns, most earlier texts reiterate the concept of the city as physically damaging and the countryside as a place where miraculous cures might occur. This essay maps a shift from a representation of the countryside as a place for cure, to acknowledgement of the health benefits of cities, in terms of technical expertise and other facilities. From the late nineteenth century, these texts acknowledge the potential dangers of rural environments, but continue to reflect belief in the psychological benefits of the countryside into the 1950s