Linguistic Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of Tamil Version of General Oral Health Assessment Index‑Tml

Background: Oral health has an impact on quality of life hence for research purpose validation of a Tamil version of General Oral Health Assessment Index would enable it to be used as a valuable tool among Tamil speaking population.Aim: In this study, we aimed to assess the psychometric properties of translated Tamil version of General Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI‑Tml).Subjects and Methods: Linguistic adaptation involved forward and backward blind translation process. Reliability was analyzed using test‑retest, Cronbach alpha, and split half reliability. Inter‑item and item‑total correlation were evaluated using Spearman rank correlation. Convenience sampling was done, and 265 consecutive patients aged 20–70 years attending the outpatient department were recruited. Subjects were requested to fill a self‑reporting questionnaire along with Tamil GOHAI version. Clinical examination was done on the same visit. Concurrent validity was measured by assessing the relationship between GOHAI scores and self‑perceived oral health and general health status, satisfaction with oral health, need for dental treatment and esthetic satisfaction. Discriminant validity was evaluated by comparing the GOHAI scores with the objectively assessed clinical parameters. Exploratory factor analysis was done to examine the factor structure.Results: Mean GOHAI‑Tml was 52.7 (6.8, range 22–60, median 54). The mean number of negative impacts was 2 (2.4, range 0–11, median 1). The Spearman rank correlation for test‑retest ranged from 0.8 to 0.9 (P < 0.001) for all the 12 items between visits. The Cronbach alpha for 265 samples was 0.8 suggesting good internal consistency and homogeneity between items. Item scale correlation ranged from 0.4 to 0.8 (P < 0.001). Concurrent and discriminant validity was established. Principal component analysis resulted in extraction of four factors which together accounted for 66.4% (7.9/12) variance.Conclusion: GOHAI‑Tml has shown acceptable psychometric properties, so that it can be used as an efficient tool in identifying the impact of oral health on quality of life among the Tamil speaking population.Keywords: General oral health assessment index, Linguistic adaptation, Oral health‑related quality of life, Psychometric properties, Reliability, Validit

Participatory instructional redesign by students and teachers in secondary education: effects on perceptions of instruction

Könings, K. D., Brand-Gruwel, S., & Van Merriënboer, J. J. G. (2011). Participatory instructional redesign by students and teachers in secondary education: effects on perceptions of instruction. Instructional Science, 39(5), 737–762.Students’ perceptions of instruction are important because they direct the learning of students. The fact that teachers have only limited knowledge of these perceptions is likely to threaten the effectiveness of learning, because congruence between interpretations of an instructional intervention is necesarry for its optimal use. This study examines participatory design as a strategy for taking student perceptions into account in instructional re/design. Participatory design meetings of groups of teachers and seven co-designing students in a secondary education setting identified changes to improve the regular education process. The results on changes in student perceptions, perceived-desired discrepancy, and teacher-student disagreement showed some improvement for the co-designers but, unexpectedly, limited or even negative effects for the non-co-designing students. Possible causes are discussed. Participatory design seems to have potential for improving education, but further research is needed